You Can (Not) Run Away
by Mister Radical
Summary: A simple accident many years ago leaves Shinji in a wheelchair. When he arrives to Tokyo-3... things don't go as expected. There's no running away anymore.
1. Chapter 1: These Steps I Take

**You Can (Not) Run Away**

 **Chapter 1:**

* * *

 _Several weeks before the arrival of the Third Angel_

 _The Commander's Office_

"We don't have long before the third of its kind appears, and with Rei out of commission…"

"We will have to bring in the spare."

"Ikari, you're sure that we can still use him? After what happened—"

"He's not dead yet, Fuyutski," Gendo interrupted.

The younger, bearded man sat at his desk with carefully organized folders littering its surface. A stack of medical reports amongst the papers was prominently displayed, as was the single file sat before him. A school picture of a particular brown-haired boy was on its cover. Each paper was slightly worn with their corners and edges slightly rounded, as if they were commonly used and referred to.

"What makes you so confident that he will agree to pilot?" the wizened professor inquired.

Gendo opened the file without much thought, revealing a vast collection of documentation on mental and physical health, along with the subject's daily habits. More significantly were the two additional pictures that were initially obscured by the flap of the envelope. One was of the boy, somewhere around six years old. The other was newer, meaning that he looked more like the most recent profile picture that marked the outside of the folder. Unlike the others, it was also a full-body shot, seemingly taken without the subject's discretion nor his awareness.

"We have something to give to him; something _only_ Eva can give to him:" Gendo said without moving from his position.

He held up the picture into the light, revealing the handicapped form of Shinji Ikari, age 14, bound to a wheelchair with his frail legs visible, weakened by years of disuse.

"And you're certain that the boy's impairment won't impact the scenario?"

A small smirk appeared below the commander's gloved hands, somewhere no one could see.

"Absolutely."

* * *

 _Several days later_

 _Tokyo-3 Train Station_

Shinji Ikari hated riding the train. Rather, he hated drawing unnecessary attention to himself, which was already difficult considering his condition. For this reason, he was extremely thankful that in his native country, most people avoided awkward eye contact, but he couldn't help to feel as if curious eyes unintentionally wandered his way. He was thankful that since Second Impact, the trains weren't nearly as crowded as he heard they used to be with people packed into cars like a can of anchovies.

The train came to a steady halt, and the metal doors slid open. Being in the disabled section meant that he had the spot closest to the exit, which he was rather fortunate about. Shinji gripped the sides of his wheelchair wheels and carefully rolled himself onto the concrete station platform. Fortunately, since Tokyo-3 was a newer city built post-Impact, most places were apparently outfitted to be handicapped-accessible, as per his teacher who had given a brief overview of the grand city before he departed. Supposedly, this was in response to the growing number of disabled folk following the aftermath of Second Impact, and so newer public areas were meant to accommodate to this effect.

He could remember back in his old town, which was much older than Tokyo-3, the train system and some buses still lacked proper equipment and design for wheelchair-users, making it especially difficult for him. Shinji lost count of how many times he had fallen from his seat just trying to disembark from a vehicle or go down a small flight of stairs when he was first becoming accustomed to his permanent seating after the accident.

Bruises and scrapes often accompanied him in his youth, eventually becoming something he often himself dismissed.

He knew pain much too well, unfortunately not all of it was physical.

Occasionally, someone was nearby and came him to assistance, especially when he was younger. Although they were acted through goodwill, they were also harrowing reminders to Shinji about how useless he felt.

He hated that, too.

Once he made it away from the loading ramp, he did a quick scan around the outdoor station. Not too many people were there, he noted. It was sparse, with only the occasional passenger making their way between trains or the rare employee appearing as disinterested as ever. Still, no sight of his ride.

He glanced over at the digital clock that determined train arrival and departure times. Thanks to the mostly-autonomous Japanese train system, his timing was impeccable- although he had already waited for a bit of extra time since he exited the train. Out of his bag that he had rested on his lap, he pulled out a folded picture meant to resemble a crude postcard that he was sent just days prior.

Pictured was the woman who, supposedly, was already meant to have been waiting for him at the station. She had dark violet hair with quite an ample bosom loosely covered by a yellow tank top. Black sharpie marks indicated the time and place to meet up, and she even added her own personal 'signature' by means of red lipstick.

It certainly was quite bizarre considering that this 'Misato Katsuragi' woman was perhaps some sort of associate to his father.

The piercing screech of rubber against asphalt filled the quiet atmosphere of the train station, bringing Shinji's eyes up from the picture. It was probably for the best, as if any more people were around him, they'd conclude that he was staring at the picture for _other_ reasons. The sound came from a blue sports car as it carelessly (yet precisely) slid to halt in front of the station. Something told him that he had a good idea who it was.

The woman from the picture stepped out of the vehicle, long legs hardly obscured by the short, black dress she was sporting. She turned to his direction, spotting him instantly considering how easily he stood out. She ripped off her sunglasses and even Shinji could see the smile that she was wearing from beyond the wire fencing. Her hand waved in the air in a friendly, beckoning gesture.

"Shinji Ikari?" she called.

"Y-yes, ma'am!" he responded.

"Misato Katsuragi- I'm your ride! Am I real late?"

"Sorry I don't have a bigger car; would you like some help?" Misato offered.

"No, please, Miss Misato, I'm fine. My teacher had a car," he responded as he readied himself before the open car door. "I-I don't want to be a burden."

It was true that he was used to getting into a car, considering that his previous guardian was forced to purchase one since the accident, although it was a standard four-door vehicle as opposed to a low-riding two-door coupé. Shinji grasped onto the car's interior and clumsily launched himself from his wheelchair, only to fall halfway onto the leather seating with his legs loosely dangling out of the doorframe.

In a practiced motion, he slid himself further onto the seat and grabbed his limp legs individually to pull them inside. It took nearly a year to get accustomed to having half his body present as merely dead weight, but it got easier over time. Physically easier, that is.

Misato studied him with watchful eyes and carefully shut the door for him, as he was hardly able to even reach from where he sat. After a bit of fumbling, she folded his wheelchair and packed it away in the car's tiny trunk. She paused as she held onto the blue paint the back door with her uneasy gaze falling onto Shinji's forced means of mobility.

' _If only he knew what he's getting into…'_

* * *

 _NERV Headquarters_

"Sorry~! I just got here myself, you know," Misato said while fumbling through a map of the building. "I still haven't figured where everything is here yet."

"Uh- I think we already passed this way before. Where did you say we were supposed to meet up, again?" Shinji lost count of how long they had been wandering around the facility. Combined with his meager tour guide, it seemed like the architects purposefully made it so that people would get lost. Unlike her, he didn't have a map considering the difficulty of using one while he used his arms for movement, so instead he opted to navigate by feel. It didn't help that every hallway looked the same.

"Rits said to meet at Terminal Block E right before the- agh!" Misato jerked back in surprise when she found herself almost colliding with a blonde woman in a lab coat.

"That took longer than you said it would, _Captain_ ," the woman sharply quipped, almost in a teasing manner.

"Hey-! I volunteered to pick him up. And whoever designed this place should be fired!"

The doctor wisely ignored her colleague's comments, instead turning her attention to the new arrival sitting in his wheelchair beside them.

"Then, of course, this is him?"

"That's right;" Misato stated, "according to the Marduk Report, he's the Third Child."

"Ritsuko Akagi," the blonde said, "it's a pleasure to meet you, Shinji."

"Uh- sure!" Shinji responded. "And um, what was that about me being the Third Child?"

"This, Shinji, is the reason why."

Ritsuko pressed on the wall panel and the nearby door slid open and beckoned the two inside. As the three entered, the automatic door slid shut, submerging the room in darkness.

"H-hey! What happened to the lights?" —Shinji yelped right before the lights flickered back on— "AGH! A-a giant robot!"

He rifled through the NERV booklet Misato handed him in the car that he had sitting on his lap, quickly flipping through the pages to see anything that fit the description.

"You won't find that in there," Ritsuko commented. "This is Evangelion Unit 01. _This_ is why we brought you here."

"This…?"

Shinji stared in awe at the massive, mechanical monster. Its purple face possessed a demonic visage, and its unblinking yellow 'eyes' felt unsettling, to say the least. It was almost as if the machine were alive, and staring at him- or rather _through_ him.

"Is… is this my father's work?" Shinji asked.

"Yes," Ritsuko replied, "all of this is. NERV is the last defense mankind has against the Angels."

"Angels…?"

"Yes, Angels. They aren't the typical messengers of God like your ones you're used to. Their ultimate goal is the end of us- the end of mankind through what we call Third Impact."

" _Third_ Impact? But Second Imp-"

"Whatever they told you about Second Impact is wrong," Ritsuko interrupted, "it was a cover-up for what truly happened. Second Impact was the cause of contact with the First Angel in Antarctica. If we fail to stop the return of the Angels, then Third Impact will wipe out the rest of the world. This is why NERV exists."

Shinji stared at her in disbelief, unaware of the scowl hidden across Misato's face.

"And… then what am I supposed to do?"

"You will pilot it," came a new, authoritative voice.

From the other side of the catwalk, Gendo Ikari appeared in full NERV commander uniform complete with white gloves, amber-tinted glasses, and a cold, unrelenting gaze.

"Father…" Shinji faintly whispered.

Ritsuko acknowledged the elder Ikari and stepped beside Misato, completely exposing the boy to the approaching man.

"It's been awhile," Gendo stated.

"Is… is this why you called me, father?"

"Correct."

"But… but why me, father?"

Shinji gripped the metal bars of his wheels hard enough that his knuckles were turning white. Misato, although not completely unnerved by the commander's imposing presence, took note of this.

"Because only _you_ can do it."

"But… but that's impossible!" Shinji wailed. "What you're asking- I can't do it!"

The elder Ikari by now stood immediately before his son; his imposing figure towering over the seated boy. Shinji fell like an ant compared to his father, whose menacing composition loomed over him akin to a shadow. Their eyes never met, as Shinji opted to turn his head away to avoid Gendo's unbreakable glare.

"I can't…" Shinji muttered.

"You can, and you will."

"No, I can't!" Shinji snapped. "I can't do anything! I can't even walk for myself!"

"Shinji," Ritsuko interrupted, "you _can_ pilot the Eva. The neural links inside- they were specifically designed as a direct interface to your brain. If you will Eva to walk, you'll feel the same sensations."

Shinji paused, realizing what the doctor just told him. It had been six years since the accident that changed his life. Six years since he woke up in the infirmary with tubes inserted into his body and strange machines hooked up around him. Six years since he was hit by a drunk driver through the empty streets of his hometown, and six years since the doctors informed him that he would never be able to use his legs again.

And now, six long years later, he was told that he could take it all back at the order of his father, the same man who hadn't spoken to him in so many years after dumping him off with his teacher. The same man who hadn't even so much as visited his son in the hospital when nobody else would. The only people that came to visit Shinji's hospital room during his recovery were the nurses that took pity on him, as did everyone else. He felt that everyone took pity on him, that he was helpless cripple. The worst part was that he believed it himself.

"I… I can walk again…?" Shinji quietly asked.

"In a word: yes," Ritsuko answered.

"Then you'll pilot it," Gendo 'asked', although it somehow sounded more like a command rather than a question.

Shinji kept his head down and stared into his lap where he rested his curled hands, again avoiding direct eye contact with his father.

"… I'll do it," he responded just loud enough to be heard. "I'll pilot the Eva…"

Gendo appeared to nod, acknowledging Shinji's response with little interest.

"Captain Katsuragi."

"Yes, sir!" she saluted.

"You will be in charge of his accommodations. I leave responsibility of further testing to you, Ritsuko."

She nodded in return as the NERV commander walked back down his side of the catwalk and exited through the automatic sliding doors. Shinji kept his head down the entire time, trying to process the flurry of indescribable emotions he was experiencing, which was best expressed through his involuntary shaking.

"C'mon, Shinji," Misato said while placing her hand on his shoulder, "let's get you signed in."

 _NERV Registration and Employee Service Center_

"What?!" Misato shouted. "He's going to be living by himself?"

"That's correct, Captain," the desk assistant responded. "Don't worry- everything is wheelchair-accessible and will be properly adjusted to suit his-"

"Damn the adjustments! He shouldn't be living alone!"

"Miss Misato, it's fine. I can take care of myself," Shinji commented.

Misato hesitated and looked at him. The poor boy still looked a bit weary after the confrontation with his father.

"Shinji, as your operating Captain, I'm in charge of your wellbeing. I've got a _better_ idea."

 _Some hours later_

 _Outside the Katsuragi Apartment_

"Well, we're here!" the violet-haired woman announced. The two were now making their way down an exposed hallway in an apartment building, each carrying groceries (although Shinji carried his in his lap). "Looks your stuff's been delivered already."

She swiped her keycard and the door slid open, allowing for her to step inside. She turned around, realizing that her new ward was hesitating before the entrance.

"I… don't want to intrude…" he said weakly.

"Shinji, it's your home too now."

He tentatively rolled across door frame, mindful of the small crevice where the door slides across. Fortunately, there was already a ramp installed in the genkan so he

"I'm… home."

Misato couldn't help but smile, as it was something that she found herself often guilty of.

"Welcome home."

Shinji quickly found that the best feature of Misato's Apartment was that she didn't have a tendency to leave trash on the immediate pathways so he didn't have to crush bits old beer bottles or dirty plastic containers. That being said, every surface of furniture was covered in the likes. Regardless, the layout was surprisingly wheelchair-accessible, a mark that the apartment was build post-Third Impact to accommodate for the growing disabled community.

"Sorry it's a little messy!" Misato called as she left to her room.

"This is a _little_ messy?" he cried out. Now more than ever was he thankful for Japanese tidiness, and especially thankful that his teacher kept the house well-organized considering that using a wheelchair was not the most convenient means of travel, especially around tiny Japanese apartments.

"Hey, do you mind putting the groceries in the refrigerator? Thanks!"

Shinji slid the door open only to be met with countless rows of Yebisu brand beer filling nearly all of the space inside. He groaned as he finally realized that a part of him still missed living with his teacher. At least things made sense back there.

The evening came and went, but unfortunately Misato's 'cooking' did not. Shinji forced himself to keep in what was left of dinner after trying a cup of her famous 'curry-ramen fusion' while she happily gulped hers down. Settling on chores was certainly a dilemma for Misato as a strong part of her didn't want Shinji to be taking out the trash, considering how much difficulty that could be for him. The same part didn't want him to be doing a lot of household chores because of his condition, but the opposing side didn't want to take the responsibility.

Shinji, on the other hand, heavily insisted that he could do most of the chores, considering how busy she was at NERV. It took a fair bit of deliberation, but it was finally agreed that Misato would help with the heavy-lifting while Shinji kept himself to easier jobs that he often performed back for his teacher, including laundry and cooking.

As the evening dragged into the night, Misato recommended Shinji to clean himself up with her exact words being "bathing cleans the mind and soul". He didn't argue; a nice, warm bath sounded exquisite after long day.

He carefully stripped off his clothes as he usually did before cleaning up, but couldn't help but notice the colorful arrangement of underwear that his new roommate carelessly left hanging around. That woman had no shame, he quickly figured. He tried ignoring this and instead reached out for the handle of the bathroom door.

He tried to, at least.

The door swung open and in front of him a black-and-white turbine engine sprayed water like a messy sprinkler system.

* * *

 _Meanwhile…_

' _I guess I should be nicer to him… he_ does _have a pretty tough life. And the way he talked to his father kinda reminded me of-'_

"AAAAAAAAGGGGGHHH!"

"SHINJI!" she shouted.

Misato jumped from her seat at the table, sending empty beer cans from dinner across the kitchen without a second thought. She tore back the curtain separating the bathroom area and the kitchen, finding herself in quite an indecent situation.

"Shinji! What's wrong! Are you okay?!"

"M-M-M-Misato!" he shouted/stuttered. "There's a p-p-p-"

Misato puffed a breath of relief and wiped the back of her hand against her forehead in relief.

"Oh, that's just Pen Pen. He's your other roommate," she answered.

"Wark!"

The warm-water penguin casually wrapped a pink towel around his neck, acting as if nothing strange had occurred. He waddled around Shinji, exiting the room and making himself cozy in his nearby personal refrigerator suspiciously decorated like a living room in the interior.

"Hey- uh, sorry to burst in like that. I thought you hurt yourself," Misato explained as she started to leave the room. "You might want to hurry up before the water gets cold."

"Huh? Ack!"

Shinji's face burned a bright red as he thrusted his hands over his privates.

It certainly was an interesting day, to say the least.

* * *

 _Two days later_

 _NERV Headquarters_

"How are you feeling Shinji?"

Ritsuko's voice echoed through the entry plug, sounding just like she would on the phone.

"Fine," he responded while subconsciously nodding to no one in particular. He was dressed in a strange, skin-tight suit that fit to his body perfectly, and it even accounted for his disproportionately scrawny legs. The downside was that it had taken him a while to put it on, although Misato offered to find someone to help him.

"Good," the doctor responded, "just relax for this next part."

Near Shinji's feet, a strange orange liquid began to flood the inside of the entry plug at an alarming rate.

"Hey! What's this stuff?!"

"Don't worry, this is LCL. It's oxygenated, so once it fills your lungs you'll be able to breathe."

"GLRRBBRBB!" Shinji gargled right as he was forced to drown himself in the substance. "I'm gonna be sick…"

"Quit complaining!" Misato piped in over the comlink. "You're a boy, after all!"

Shinji couldn't help but ignore what his guardian said and instead curiously sniffed the 'LCL' that was sitting in.

"Smells… like blood…" he silently murmured to himself.

"Shinji, your synch ratio is at 44%!" Ritsuko exclaimed.

"Is… is that a good thing…?"

"It's a very good thing, keep it up!" Ritsuko said. "Alright, now we're going to start with a basic walking exercise, okay?"

"Walking…" he breathed, unaware that he had already grasped the control yolks, "right."

"Maya, prepare to launch Unit 01," Ritsuko ordered. "Send him inside the GeoFront, Exit 4."

"Roger. Preparing neural links now."

Maya skillfully navigated through her personal station, entering precise command lines and hitting a series of complex button combinations. All the while, the bindings surrounding Unit 01 in its cage were pulling away in synch to her orders. Finally, a screen on her terminal appeared in bright orange coloration showing a digital model portraying the Evangelion.

"Eva Unit 01 ready to launch, Captain."

"Are you ready, Shinji?" Misato asked.

"Y-yes."

"Launch the Eva!"

The next few seconds became a blur for Shinji. One moment he was sliding across the interior of NERV HQ. The next moment, he was being jettisoned at near-impossible speeds like a rollercoaster on steroids. Needless to say, he screamed a bit. He stopped when he saw the luscious green interior of the GeoFront, complemented by the serene lake that was his first exposure to the mysterious underground headquarters. Artificial lighting illuminated the enormous dome, giving it a sense of ageless wonder.

Shinji's eyes widened as he realized what he was doing. Rather, it what was his Evangelion was doing _for_ him. He was _standing_ for the first time in years. The same sensation of height that he hadn't felt for so much time finally came back to him, flooding him with nostalgic memories long-since forgotten. He could actually _feel_ his legs too, the weight of his body being held up by something other than a chair. It something that was lost along with his ability to stand for himself, and something he never realized that he would miss.

"Shinji," Ritsuko's voice once again popped up on the intercom, "just concentrate on walking."

"Walk…"

But he fell.

The mighty, purple behemoth fell face-first onto the forest-ground of the GeoFront, resulting in a loud _boom_ that sent vibrations that could even be felt by the Command Station in Central Dogma.

He clutched his face, feeling the same physical trauma as if it were his own.

"Shinji, _concentrate_. Remember what it was like before when you could use your legs."

Instinctively, as Shinji was pushing himself off the ground, he started with his arms, hardly acknowledging his legs after years of habit. He shut his eyes and gripped onto the control yolks in a struggling attempt to concentrate on moving the dead weight that was half his body- something he hadn't bothered to do in a long time.

' _Move…'_

Finally, he felt something- a tiny surge of contracting muscle through his right leg. Shinji's eyes burst open in surprise, followed by a twitch and groan coming from the machine as the legs came to life after years of disuse. He glanced down at his legs in the cockpit. He was disappointed to find that they weren't moving as was the Evangelion, but most importantly he could _feel_ them as if they were the pair that were moving.

Slowly and carefully, Shinji hoisted himself to standing position, awkwardly stretching out its arms for balance, not dissimilar to a toddler learning to walk for the first time.

"I'm… doing it…" he muttered in disbelief. "I'm- I'm doing it!"

"Way to go, Shinji!" Misato shouted while raising her fist in the air.

The largest, stupidest-looking grin firmly planted itself across Shinji's face for the first time in his entire life. He eagerly willed the Evangelion forward, and it obediently followed his command sending its massive left foot forward followed shortly by its right.

It had been six years since he could walk.

There wasn't a time in his life where he felt more alive.

* * *

 _Hours later_

 _Evangelion Unit 01 Cage_

Misato watched as mechanical appendage pinched the sides of Unit 01's exposed entry plug and lowered it to the docking bay where several NERV crew members were guiding its trajectory. Once it descended into position, the hatch opened with a hiss of depressurization. The crew members took this cue and went inside to help the pilot into the wheelchair. Shinji was dripping LCL, and the sudden change in temperature also made him shiver, however one helper brought along a towel that he promptly wrapped around his neck.

"Have fun?" Misato grinned.

"It was… I haven't felt my legs in so long," he responded. "I… it was just… walking in the Eva… it was like _I_ was walking."

"C'mon, go get showered and we'll head home. Remember, you _do_ start school tomorrow."

Shinji nodded, and headed off to the locker room. As he followed the signs guiding him through the labyrinth that was NERV HQ, a door at the other end of the hall opened up. Two employees wearing lab coats and scrubs were pushing a hospital bed and its occupant, perhaps transferring them elsewhere in the medical facility.

He couldn't help but notice the passenger as they passed by as she was about his age, with a pretty, pale face. Her hair was disheveled and untrimmed, though that was overshadowed by the fact that it was also a very light shade of blue.

A medical eyepatch covered one of her offsetting crimson eyes while the other stared back at Shinji in an unbreakable stare, as if she were trying to examine something past his physical features. It was unsettling, yet oddly endearing. And it somehow felt… familiar, as if he had found some part of him that was missing for so long.

The brief encounter was cut short, as the doctors hurriedly pushed along her bed around the distant corner, disappearing through the everlasting hallways of NERV.

Shinji went back to try to search for the lockers, eventually finding them when a long-haired bridge-crew member pointed him in the right direction, thus continuing the annoyingly-long process of changing clothes. A small price, he figured.

He found Misato waiting for him by the time he changed back into his usual attire of black pants and a white button-up.

"Ready to head home?" she asked.

"Yeah. Hey, uh, Misato? I saw this girl…"

"Oooooh, does somebody have a crush?" she teased.

"N-no! It's not like that! She just… looked hurt pretty badly."

"Oh, that's Rei Ayanami; she's the First Child. She was in an accident with her Eva not too long ago. You'll be working with her once she's healed."

"I see… but if she's the First Child, and I'm the Third, then is the Second around?"

"Ohhh, don't worry, she and Unit 02 are still back in Germany."

"How many more pilots are there?"

"It's just you three for now. We're waiting for Unit 03 to finish construction in America, and the pilot hasn't even been chosen yet. Now c'mon, let's get going, dinner's on me tonight."

Shinji internally vomited.

He didn't even know how that was possible.

* * *

 _The next day_

 _Tokyo-3 Junior High School, Class 2-A_

"Hi! You must be the transfer student!"

It was certainly no wonder how she was able to tell that he was a transfer, judging by the amount of people lurking around in the hallways. Apparently transfers here were uncommon, especially those bound to a wheelchair judging by the curious eyes that were following him since he entered the building.

"Uh- yeah, that's right."

"My name is Hikari Horaki," she stated in a bubbly voice, "I'm the class representative of Class 2-A."

"Oh, hi. Shinji Ikari," he politely responded with a bow (although it was more accurate to say that it was a half-bow all things considered).

"You can sit down wherever you want- there's no seating chart."

"Right- um, thanks."

The first spot he chose happened to be the window seat, one that felt a bit more isolated from the rest and even included a nice outdoor view.

"Oh, uh- that's usually where Rei sits," Hikari pointed out.

"Rei?" Shinji inquired. "Rei Ayanami?"

"Yeah, although she hasn't been to class for almost a week. Hey, how'd you know her last name?"

"Uh, sh-she's just… uh… my guardian knows her."

"Well alright," Hikari said, quickly scanning the rest of the room. "It looks like everyone else is here, so any other empty seat should be good.

He chose a spot randomly and rolled up to the empty desk where Hikari eagerly followed to push the chair out of the way for him. However, when he tried pushing his wheelchair into the proper position, the sides of the wheels bumped into the narrow table legs.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! I should have known!" she said, looking rather embarrassed. "Please let me help- Suzuhara! Get over here and switch out the desk!"

"Hey why do I have to?" came a new voice in the back. Shinji traced where it came from, which apparently was from a dark-haired boy with tanned skin. The most striking part about him was that unlike the other students, this boy wore a dark tracksuit instead of the usual school uniform. This 'Suzuhara' person was sitting back on his chair with his legs casually propped up onto his desk with his arms firmly crossed. Apparently the 'tough-guy' look was in season.

"Show some respect!" Hikari ordered. Shinji was taken back, as one second ago she was the friendliest person he's probably ever met- the kind to not even hurt a fly. Now she was barking commands to the jock of the class like an irritated spouse. Even more to his surprise did she stomp over to him and tug him by the ear, pulling him completely out of his seat.

"OW! Jeez, fine I'll do it!" the boy howled in pain before going to replace the desk.

Shinji couldn't help but notice that the boy with sandy-brown hair and large wire spectacles sitting next to him wasn't paying any attention to the scene and was instead fixated on Shinji. The way the light reflected off his glasses and hid his eyes made him seem even more menacing.

Eventually, Suzuhara returned with a new, wider desk in his hands, one that was suitable for wheelchair use. Shinji frowned when he saw the large blue-and-white disabled logo on the top right.

"Hey new kid, you better 'ppreciate this." the boy said. "That bastard's heavier than it looks."

"Get back to your seat, Suzuhara, class is about to begin!" Hikari shouted from her seat.

The tracksuit-wearing classmate grumbled something that sounded similar to "damn woman" before he returned back to his spot in the back. Finally, an older gentleman entered the room, prompting Hikari to perform the "Rise, Bow, Sit" routine. It didn't take long for Shinji to catch on that the old man was going senile, and his lecture regarding the economy pre-Second Impact had nothing to do with physics.

He peeked around the classroom to see what everyone else was up to. Some were catching up on sleep, while others were very obviously playing some sort of game- both of which went completely unnoticed by the teacher. Even Hikari appeared to be working on homework for a different class.

He followed in suit and idly glanced through the homework assignments that he was supposed to catch up on. It wasn't long before a messing window popped up on his screen.

 **aida_kensuke: Are you with NERV?**

Shinji blinked twice. Whoever this person was, they knew something was up. But how was he supposed to respond? 'Yes, I pilot an 80-meter-tall giant robot. My father is the commander and I live with a penguin and a drunk whose cleavage could sink a battleship.' Of course, he wasn't going to _actually_ say any of that, firstly because it was strange enough. Secondly, it was because he hated the extra attention.

 **ikari_shinji: No**

 **aida_kensuke: You're not fooling me, Ikari. Why did you transfer here? Where did you come from?**

Whoever this Aida kid was, he was persistent. Shinji glanced around the room to try spotting him, although he had a sneaking suspicion on who it was.

 **ikari_shinji: My family transferred here for work**

Honestly, that was the best alibi he could think of. And it was pretty terrible, he had to admit.

 **aida_kensuke: Where do they work?**

Uh oh. Shinji started hastily typing to try covering for his lie.

 **ikari_shinji:** **Produce**

Wait, what?

 **aida_kensuke: … produce? Like fruit?**

 **ikari_shinji:** _uhhh-_ **Production** _yeah that sounds right_ **sorry, autocorrect**

 **aida_kensuke: There is no autocorrect on these laptops.**

' _Damn he's shrewd!'_

 **aida_kensuke: I'm keeping my eyes on you, Ikari.**

 _ **aida_kensuke has left the chatroom**_ _._

Shinji sighed. It hadn't even been an hour and he was already attracting enough attention. Only eight more hours to go…

Finally, the lunch bell rung. As he did back in his old school, Shinji stayed put at his desk and brought out his bento which he personally prepared. It was a simple affair, although it was satisfying enough. As he began to eat his food, he was unaware of the conversation happening between two classmates in the back of the room.

"Hey, Toji- you wonder why that new kid transferred here?"

"No, what about him?"

"Don't you think it's kinda suspicious? We never get transfer students! Everyone's been moving out since they've turned the city into a fortress."

"Kensuke, look at him- I don't think he's doin' anything suspicious."

"But why would a handicapped person come to _this_ city out of the others? And my dad was talking about something secret happening down at NERV- they're preparing for something alright, and I'm going to find out what!"

Toji sighed. He was a good friend, but sometimes the military nut was a bit overwhelming.

"Well," Toji said as he rose from his chair, "I'm going to grab some grub from the cafeteria. I'll be back in a minute."

"What happened to your lunch? I thought you said you had one this morning?"

"Sakura took it," Toji groaned. "Again."

"Why don't you make two lunches in the morning then?"

"I'm too busy helping her get ready for school since my dad and grandpa have to leave early," he responded as his stomach growled. "I'll be back- I'm starvin'."

As Toji exited the room with haste, Kensuke turned his attention back to the boy in the wheelchair. He stood and approached the boy, who seemed to be enjoying his meal, and grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Gah!" Shinji yelped in surprise, nearly choking on his rice.

"Oh- whoa, sorry there, Ikari. Didn't mean to startle you like that!" Kensuke quickly apologized.

"It's *cough* fine," Shinji said before taking a gulp of water.

"So," -Kensuke stood himself before Shiniji's desk- "what's NERV like? What do you do there? How did someone you age get employed? What's the GeoFront like? Can you take some pictures for me?"

"I-I don't think I'm allowed to say…"

"Oh come on, Ikari! You gotta tell me something!"

"I'm sorry, but I don't think I can."

"Pleeaasse?"

"Aida!" came a familiar voice. "Quit bugging the new kid!"

Hikari trotted up to the freckled boy as he pulled away from Shinji.

"Oh c'mon Class Rep, he was just telling me about how he works for NERV!"

"Huh? You work for NERV?" she asked. "But you're our age!"

"It's kinda complicated," Shinji sheepishly admitted.

"Complicated like that Project E?" Kensuke inquired.

"Yeah, a bi- hey, how do you know of that?"

"My dad works for NERV, and he let it slip that he works on Project E but won't tell me anything about it! He says it's classified information, but that only makes it better!"

"Well it's classified for a reason…"

"Aw c'mon…"

"Kensuke," Hikari interrupted, "if he doesn't want to say, then he doesn't have to say it."

"Doesn't have to say what?" Toji asked as he returned with a bundle of prepackaged food in his arms.

"See Toji, I told you he works for NERV!"

"So? What do I care?"

"How can you not? Do you even know what kind of juicy secrets they're holding from us?"

"What are you going on about?" asked Hikari.

"Have you ever thought about the defenses they've built into the city? Why we have evacuation drills?"

"Yeah, a bit. My dad and grandpa work in construction," Toji mentioned. "They don't really know either."

"It's top secret stuff you know, but I think they're preparing for something _big_ , like an invasion or something."

"C'mon man, that kind of stuff happens in movies and TV shows."

"Hey I'm being serious here!"

"Hey, I just remembered," Hikari said, quickly changing topics. "Toji, I need you to deliver Rei's paperwork from this past week."

"Hey, why do I gotta?"

"Because you left early when you had cleaning duty!"

"Hey! I apologized! Get off my back already!" he shouted back. "And why don't you ask the new kid here to do it?"

Hikari shot him a look of annoyance as Toji glanced over at Shinji, suddenly remembering the reason.

"Oh- uh," he said, nervously rubbing the back of his head, "I mean…"

"No, it's fine, I can do it Hikari," Shinji said. "Besides, Rei's still in the hospital and they said she won't be back for a while."

"Huh?" Kensuke chimed in. "How do you know about Ayanami? Wait- does _she_ work for NERV _too?_ How do you guys get so lucky?"

"What did you say, Shinji?" Hikari asked, completely ignoring Kensuke's outburst. "She's in the hospital?"

"Yeah, I-I don't know what happened, though."

"Like the _NERV_ hospital? Send me, Class Rep! I, Kensuke Aida volunteer to go deliver her papers!"

"I can deliver them to her, it's not a big deal," Shinji said.

"Are you sure? I mean, I don't want to put all this responsibility on you so soon…"

"Let me go instead! I can do it!"

"No, please, it's fine. I already have to go to Headquarters this afternoon anyway."

"Take me with you!" Kensuke begged.

"Oh shut up already!" Toji said, grappling his friend into an arm-lock.

"Alright, if you insist. I'll give you her papers after school today."

"Right."

"Noo…" Kensuke softly whimpered.

Shinji picked at his food.

Toji gulped his down like a happy vacuum.

Kensuke finally stop prying about NERV and fiddled with his camera.

God was in his heaven, and all was right with… lunchtime.

* * *

 _End of the day_

 _Outside Tokyo-3 Jr. High_

"Hey Ikari," Kensuke greeted as he and Toji walked down the steps outside the school where they found Shinji nose-deep in a book.

"Oh, hey guys," Shinji responded, setting the book down in his lap.

"What're you still doing here?"

"I'm waiting for my guardian to come pick me up. She insisted on driving me, but it looks like she's already late. What are you two still doing here?"

"Well Toji got stuck with clean-up duty cuz he bailed the other day, and I didn't have anything better to do."

"Can you believe the Class Rep? She's too damn demanding, I tell you."

"Can you blame her? She was stuck doing your duties for hours after school ended!"

"Hey, I was taking Sakura home! It's not my fault that she wasn't feelin' good!"

"Jeez, if only you just told that to the Class Rep!"

"Hey, it's none of her business!"

Fortunately, their bickering was quickly cut off by the sounds of tires squealing as a familiar blue sports car swerved into view. The driver-side door swung open and out came endless, pale legs. Attached to those came a very attractive woman in her late twenties, although she was easily comparable to women much younger.

Toji and Kensuke's jaws dropped, as did something else sometime prior that would have elicited such a response.

"What a babe!"

"She's so hot!"

"Please God, let her be our replacement teacher!"

"Hey Shinji, ready to go?" Misato called from where she parked.

He nodded in response, and started making his way over to her.

"Th-that's your guardian?!" Toji cried in disbelief.

"Is that a NERV benefit…?" Kensuke drooled.

"Oh, uh- bye guys!" Shinji shouted back before they hopped in the car. It didn't matter, as they were both still ogling over the violet-haired beauty that just enchanted their presence.

"He's so lucky…" they both said in unison, oblivious the irony in the statement.

"They seem nice, Shinji. Must've had a good first day?"

"I… I guess so."

As she drove through the surprisingly vast expanse of Tokyo-3 roads, a small grin lit up on Misato's face. She would be lying if she said she wasn't happy for him.

* * *

 **A/N:**

Okay, okay, so it's kinda slow and boring for these first couple chapters. I haven't written something this large in a long time, and I've grown accustom to writing damn essays for school so it's going to take a while for me to get into the swing of things. And don't worry, I have several big changes in the storyline that I want to implement, so it's hopefully going to be a lot more exciting. Or maybe it'll read like bad fanfic. Eh, either way.

I got the inspiration for taking away Shinji's ability to walk after a few things: physical impairments suck, and after reading a bit of Steel Ball Run (JJBA) I sprung an idea to make Shinji's life a bit worse than it already is! Hurray!

Thanks for reading~

Stay tuned! Or don't, I'm not your mom.


	2. Chapter 2: My Hands, Their Blood

**You Can (Not) Run Away**

 **Chapter 2:**

* * *

 _Hours later_

 _Outside Infirmary Ward 3B_

Shinji knocked on the metal door.

"H-hello? May I come in?"

"Yes," a calm voice responded from behind the barrier.

He pushed the door open and rolled inside. The same mysterious blue-haired girl he saw in the hallway was propped up on her bed in a sitting position with her eyes trained to a book.

The hospital gown she was wearing appeared to have been constructed of a thin fabric which hardly accounted for the privacy of the individual.

"Er-! I-uh, I'm sorry!" he stammered as he pulled back, covering his eyes as well as reddened cheeks. "I thought you said you were ready!"

Rei rested her novel on her lap as her studying gaze turned to the newcomer.

"You're… you're hardly dressed… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude."

"You are not intruding," she said. Her voice was quiet and calm, and never once changed from a monotone vocalization.

"S-sorry," he gulped while still covering his eyes. "My name is Shinji Ikari."

"I know."

"Y-you know?"

"Yes, you are the designated Third Child, as I am the designated First Child."

"Eh, uh- right, sorry. I guess I should've already known. Um, I-I was just here to give you these papers from school," Shinji waved them with his free hand as an indication. "Where would you like them?"

"The table will be fine."

"Right."

Shinji pulled his arm covering his eyes away from his face to grab ahold of the wheels while averting his vision from the barely-decent Rei and slowly motioned in the direction where he last saw the table. Unfortunately, this meant that when he found it, the front of his wheelchair accidently sent a couple of the books that were resting on top falling to the floor.

"Sorry! I-I didn't mean to do that," he quickly apologized as he leaned forward to try to pick up the fallen objects. They were, however, slightly too far out of his reach no matter how far he extended himself.

"You do not have to do that."

"No, please, I can do it. It was my fault for knocking them over, I should've watched where I was going. I should be the one to pick them up," he explained, struggling at the simple task.

Rei paused and observed the boy with keen eyes, although from an external perspective she hardly seemed interested. She had seen people in wheelchairs very few times, usually as a temporary means of transportation due to an injury or impairment. In fact, were it not for the commander's insistence that she remain in bed, Rei would have been subject to a wheelchair herself due to Unit 00's outbreak. Therefore, it certainly intrigued her that this person seemed to rely so heavily on his, perhaps as if it were the only stable thing in his life.

Shinji's ordeal ended in an unceremonious manner, however. As he extended himself out of his chair to reach for the book, he was unaware that he had pushed himself closer to the edge of his seat. Gripping only onto the wheels for balance, his body accidently slipped forward, causing him to tumble to pathetically fall to the ground- only to be 'cushioned' by the cold, hospital flooring.

"Ow…" he muttered, "dammit…"

"You did not have to do that."

Shinji pushed himself upright, as he did anytime he fell from his chair. He picked up the books with a free hand and slid them up onto the table where they belonged.

Very slowly and carefully did he pull himself back onto his chair in a practiced motion, although straining himself more than before when he was attempting to pick up what he had unintentionally knocked over. Of course, half his body being dead weight certainly was not beneficial in his endeavor.

After all the books were cleaned up and he was back onto his wheelchair, he reached into his school bag and grabbed the papers, neatly setting them beside the books.

"I'm sorry for my inconvenience," he politely nodded, "I-I'll just go now."

As Shinji rolled out of the room in shame, Rei studied him wordlessly, her one exposed eye tracing his movements- just as she had done when he entered. Eventually did she return to her book, although she quickly realized that during the intermission she had lost her place.

* * *

"You ready, Shinji?" Misato called from down the hallway.

"Yeah, ready," he nodded.

"So how was visiting Rei? I hope you didn't take advantage of her!" she teased.

 _'_ _Like I ever could…'_ he bitterly thought. It wasn't that he would ever perform such a ribald act, but rather if he ever had the possibility to do anything close with anyone. He certainly wasn't optimistic about his chances, being that paralysis wasn't particularly a turn-on for most people.

"Hey…" Misato scrunched her forehead as she observed his clothes, "your pants are scuffed."

"It's nothing," Shinji mumbled, turning away from his guardian.

"Shinji- if there's anything you need help with, just ask. There's nothing wrong with it getting some help from others-"

"Misato, please- it's nothing."

"Alright. But remember what I said," she sighed and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Let's go home, it's been a long day."

* * *

"Rei."

"Sir," she responded stoically. It was the Commander she was addressing, after all.

"How are you feeling?"

"My treatment remains as scheduled. Doctor Akagi reported that I am expected to be cleared for piloting in the next thirty days."

"Get some rest, I have a use for you once you are able to continue testing," he replied, just as the growing stack of papers were caught in the corner of his eye.

"Where did you get these?"

"Pilot Ikari has brought them to me."

"I see," he noted, his emotions hidden behind the amber-tinted glasses.

"Should I not accept these?"

"No," he solemnly responded, "you may continue. It would be beneficial for your education."

"Yes, sir."

Gendo motioned for the door as quietly as he entered right before a final question beckoned his attention.

"Commander?"

"Yes, Rei?"

"What happened to Pilot Ikari?"

The man turned his back to her as the door slid open. "It's irrelevant; a minor accident."

With that, he exited the room and the door shut with a click, leaving Rei alone again with only her books, trapped in the inner mechanisms of her thoughts.

* * *

The next few weeks only got busier for Shinji Ikari. At Ritsuko's doctoral insistence, he would be reporting to NERV nearly every afternoon for testing and exercises in his Eva. Judging by the tone of her voice, she was taken back by his daily growth with each test marking a steady improvement.

It was understandably so, as Shinji knew every time he would get inside Eva meant another time to walk; another time to take back six years of his life. Unsurprisingly, his synch ratio had been slowly increasing as a result, reaching nearly fifty-percent synchronization within the course of only a few days.

"Good morning, Ikari," Kensuke and Toji both droned in unison.

Of course, school got better too.

"Good morning, Misato!" they chirped.

"Hey boys!" she called from the kitchen. "Shinji, have fun at school!"

Shinji pushed the two mesmerized companions out the front door before literal drool made its way into the house. It had become routine for the three each morning before school once Toji and Kensuke found out that Shinji lived with the violet beauty known as Misato Katsuragi, although he would casually mention that they don't understand anything about _actually_ living with her as a roommate.

That didn't stop them, however, and they even convinced her that they would come by to pick Shinji up in the mornings just so they could say hello.

School days came and went, although it was much more bearable with the comfort of friends by his side. For the weeks that passes, Rei's seat was empty- just as it was when Shinji first arrived. At Hikari's reluctant requests, he would visit her in the hospital every few days and deliver her homework.

* * *

The teacher droned as he always did. It was amazing that he was still teaching, quite frankly. Kensuke mentioned that most qualified folk had left already, and he was one of the few that stuck around. Shinji mindlessly tapped his pencil against his desk. There wasn't much to do in times like these except wait for the glorious sound of the bell.

Today was different.

A muted buzz and chime could be heard coming from his school bag that sat near his extra-wide desk. It was the cellphone Misato got him.

His eyes widened in a combination of fear and surprise, as there was only one reason why it would be calling him during class; the one thing he had been training for ever since he arrived in Tokyo-3.

"An Angel…" Shinji breathed.

Just seconds later, the school's PA system and alarm blared on repeat.

 _All students and faculty: this is a special state of emergency. Please report to your designated shelters._

The time had finally arrived.

* * *

"Okay Shinji, it's going to be like we practiced," Ritsuko's firm voice declared over the intercom system.

"Right," he responded from inside his entry plug, nervously gripping his control yolks. He took slow, controlled breathes just like the ones they taught him in physical therapy many years prior. Just minutes before did he hear of the JSSDF's failed attack on the Angel, the outcome apparently expected by the higher-ups.

Misato cued him in on what was going on aboveground, particularly the use of an N2 mine whose shockwave trembled miles below in the GeoFront.

What kind of monster were these things?

"Synchronization ratio holding at fifty-two percent!" Maya stated.

"Begin launch sequence!" Misato ordered, followed by the affirmation of a NERV tech employee.

Before long, Shinji found his Evangelion sitting at the launch pad that he began growing accustomed to whenever they sent him inside the GeoFront. This time he was going to the city-top, just like in the simulation target practice in his training sessions.

"Are you ready Shinji?" Misato spoke worriedly.

"… Roger."

"Eva launch!"

Unit 01 and Shinji blasted through the many layers of the GeoFront at incredible speeds more intense than any rollercoaster until they reached the opening hatch located in the middle of a Tokyo-3 street. Shinji took a practice step forward, flexing his newfound sensations.

"Shinji, we're sending you a rifle in District 23!"

"Wh-where is it? Where's the Angel?" he stammered apprehensively.

He quickly grabbed the rifle from the building-shaped edifice and clutched onto it just like he had in his simulations. Only this time, it very clearly was _not_ a simulation.

"Shinji! It's coming around the corner!"

As Misato's final words erupted through the intercom, he finally saw it: a monstrous devil whose skin was an unnatural dark-green color with bone plating on its shoulders and around a red orb implanted in its chest like a set of ribs. It possessed no head, instead having two bird skull-like faces marking the top of its chest. It had no eyes, but Shinji could have sworn it was looking right at him.

He froze in fear. This wasn't anything like he would've imagine the Angel. This one was much more terrifying. The demon approached him with earth-shaking steps, threatening the ground he walked on.

"Shinji! Use the rifle!" Misato shouted.

Shinji lifted the enormous gun and held the trigger, forgetting weeks of training in seconds.

Giant flicks of light reflected off its green skin, indicative that these bullets were nothing but pebbles being tossed by a young child.

"I-it's no use!" Shinji exclaimed as the Angel got closer.

In a swift motion, the Angel lashed at him with its mighty claw-hand. If it were not for his split-second instinct to protect himself with the gun, his Evangelion would have been gored instead. Shinji fell backwards, firmly landing his Evangelion's posterior on the hard asphalt.

"Shinji get back!"

Unit 01 just side-jumped away, narrowly avoiding the Angel's foot impacting into his chest and instead shattering the ground like a broken window. As breathing quickened, he flipped a switch from his control console, opening one of his shoulder pylons to reveal the prog knife seldom used in his training. Quickly grabbing it with Unit 01's hand, Shinji desperately swung at the monster with crude form.

The Angel easily anticipated his swings and slashes, avoiding them as if it were second nature. With impossible reflexes, it swung its enormous claw-hand at Unit 01 as it lashed out, seizing the mecha's arm. Shinji flinched as he felt the unfamiliar contact-hold through his neural-links. The green horror took advantage of his misstep, twisting his arm around his shoulder and forcing him to drop the knife.

Shinji broke out in a choked cry, his mind scattered by new sensations of pain.

Unit 01's legs gave away in a position of vulnerability, open to receive the Angel's foot pummeling into his exposed left knee. An audible crack rang through the air; akin to the snapping of twigs. Unit 01's newly-mangled knee bent backwards similarly to a bird's leg but obviously painful for a human.

Shinji screamed in agony, doubling-over in his entry plug as he instinctively hugged onto his contorted arm and leg as the phantom pains pulsating through his body.

"SHINJI!" Misato shouted. "Get him out of there! Eject the entry plug!"

"Negative!" Aoba, one of the bridge crew members, shouted. "It's not responding to our commands!"

Misato turned to the enormous screen displayed across the hollowed deck and stared anxiously through the camera's feed, completely helpless.

The Angel lifted the Evangelion by its head with ease, picking it up like a discarded ragdoll. With blinding fury, its radiant elbow spike continuously thrusted into the helmet until finally piercing through the Eva's skull- _Shinji's_ skull. He screamed and flailed, his cries echoing through the oxygenated pool of LCL.

Finally, the monstrosity released Unit 01, flinging it into the face of a nearby skyscraper.

The last thing Shinji remembered was the feeling of rubble trickling down his Eva's reinforced armor plating as he felt two minds merge as one…

Just minutes later, the interior lighting on the entry plug flickered back to life. He blinked several times trying to bring his lingering thoughts back to the present. His body trembled from shock, mixed with the intermittent twitch that he lacked control over.

Shinji could overhear Misato's recall orders shouted over the intercom as he could feel acidity tingling at the back of his throat. Before he realized he couldn't hold it in any longer, the burning taste of that morning's breakfast decorated the metallic interior of the entry plug.

* * *

Shinji awoke with a gasp, taking heavy, rapid breathes as he returned to reality.

 _'_ _Another hospital…'_

The sterile smell of lingering cleaning products and pungent medical supplies filled his nose and mouth. He truly hated this taste.

He brought himself to a half-hearted sitting position by propping himself up with his elbows to survey the room. A faint beeping could be heard by the strange machines beside his bed, and an IV pouch hung nearby. It made him sick.

Shinji stared down at his scrawny legs; the skinny shapes just barely visible through the thin hospital sheets. He absent-mindedly tried willing them to move as if he were in his Eva, but was met with fruitless results, as he expected.

He also found his hand running down the leg that was damaged in the Eva in an attempt at finding any abnormalities, only to conclude to similar results. The phantom pains he experienced during the fight with the Angel felt so vivid and complex; as if he regained the ability to feel those same sensations again.

Undoubtedly, they wouldn't be coming true.

He wouldn't get much more sleep that night.

* * *

"Shinji, you really should be resting," Misato spoke with concern.

"It's fine, Misato," he replied without turning away from preparing dinner. "I'm alright."

Misato eyed his cautiously as she sipped from her beer can. He was discharged from the hospital just earlier that morning, yet was despite everything that happened to him in Unit 01, he was casually cutting vegetables as if the previous day's events were ultimately unimportant. She was surprised, to speak little of it. As she and Ritsuko did field research on the remains of the conflict between the Angel and Unit 01, Misato doubted that he would return to pilot- yet he still remained, unknown whether he truly was willing.

Dinner slowly passed by, with few words other than "thank you" or "I'm fine" passed between the two. Misato found herself turning in early, exhausted by a day of monotonous paperwork filed in response to the battle. Meanwhile, Shinji dried himself off from his nightly bathing ritual, something that he became accustomed to due to the lack of time he had in the mornings nowadays to avoid Misato from cooking.

He slumped back onto his bed, careful not to knock away his wheelchair as he hopped out of it. He inserted the earbuds to his S-DAT and let it play its two mesmerizing songs on repeat. That night he never bothered with tucking himself in. It was another chore, as everything always was.

* * *

"Mornin' Shinji!" Kensuke beamed at the front door of the Katsuragi apartment.

"Hey, Kensuke," Shinji feebly responded. "Where's Toji?"

"Haven't got a clue. I guess he must already be at school or something- you know, first day back and all. But Shinji, that was you in that giant robot, wasn't it? You were fighting that thing attacking us?"

"Yeah," he frowned. "It…"

"I can't believe it! You get to pilot such an awesome machine! Man I envy you, Ikari!"

"You really shouldn't…"

Misato popped her head around the corner. "Hey boys! Taking Shinji to school- huh? Where's Toji?"

"He didn't show," the freckled boy shrugged.

"Oh, well, have a nice day at school you two!"

"C'mon Shinji, we're going to be late! Besides you gotta tell me what's it like inside that thing!"

Kensuke grabbed Shinji by his wheelchair handlebars and pulled him out of the apartment. Normally, Shinji didn't like it someone tossed him around like that, but today he passively let it happen. Besides, he wasn't in the mood for arguing.

* * *

"Hey Ikari, are the rumors true?" a classmate questioned curiously. "Was that really you in that robot?"

"That's right!" Kensuke spoke for him. "He's the pilot! He's the one that saved us all!"

"Wow, really?"

Shinji feebly nodded.

"It's called an Eva! _Evangelion Unit 01_." Kensuke proudly announced.

Their classmates collectively began gathering around Shinji, the savior of their city, firing off questions and comments he hardly had the energy to respond to.

"Were you scared?"

"What's it like in the Eva?"

"Where do _I_ sign up?"

"Uhh…" he stammered, completely overwhelmed by the newfound attention.

"Hey, back off everyone," Hikari swiftly interjected, "give him some space! Back to your seats!"

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it," she pleasantly responded. "Hey, where's Suzuhara? I thought you guys usually walked together."

"No idea," Kensuke shrugged for the third time that morning.

"You… you don't think he got hurt, do you?" she asked with a twinge of worry.

"Nah, Toji's a tough guy. Plus, he evacuated with us, remember? I'm sure he's fine," Kensuke coolly reassured. "Though… I'm not sure where he would be."

The bell rung, followed by the entrance of their senile teacher. The curious class that was previously fawning over Shinji scrambled back into their seats, Hikari included.

"Rise, Bow, Sit!"

* * *

"Hey Shinji, something bothering you? You've been down all day," Kensuke commented.

School ended like any other day, although for the young pilot of Eva Unit 01, this time around it meant a lot more people pestering him about his day job. The two companions strolled –although _rolled_ would be more accurate for one of them— down the afternoon streets of the city, following an unfamiliar route that only Kensuke was knowledgeable of.

"Sorry, it's nothing," Shinji returned.

"C'mon man, you know if you say it's nothing, it means you got something to say," Kensuke perceptively critiqued. "If it's about Toji, I'm sure he's fine."

Before long, the two friends found themselves at the Suzuhara apartment, which was quite a fair ordeal by its external appearance. Kensuke mentioned that Toji's family needed extra space, considering that he lived with his sister, father, and grandfather had to pack together.

Kensuke pressed the plastic button on the nearby door panel, sounding off as a muffled buzzing noise. Seconds passed, and the two couldn't distinguish any sound of movement coming from within. Curious, Kensuke hit the button again; no response.

"Huh," Kensuke aptly commented after the minutes passed, "I guess no one's home. I guess we'll try tomorrow."

And they would. And even the day after that.

But still no word from the tracksuit-clad companion.

It was three days before Toji Suzuhara returned to class.

"Toji!" Kensuke called.

The tall, tanned athlete gave the room a quick survey until his glare found itself with the student sitting by his specialized desk. His eyes narrowed in fiery intent as he stomped over to the boy, the welcome by his glasses-wearing companion gone unnoticed.

"That was you, wasn't it!" Toji snarled.

Shinji let out a small gasp as he was lifted by his collar. His eyes widened in terror as he was suddenly overcome by one of the few people he could call a friend. Kensuke and Hikari stared at the spectacle, jaws agape.

"You were the pilot of that damn robot, weren't you?" he loudly accused. "What the hell were you thinking, destroying our own city!"

Toji's free hand balled into a fist, ready to take a swing. Rage boiled in his mind, an emotion festering for days. He raised his arm and cocked it back, and Shinji reflexively shut his eyes, ready to take the incoming hit- the same reaction he held when he realized he was going to fall down a flight of stairs. His legs dangling loosely below him, the tips of his shoes barely touching the linoleum floor.

Toji hesitated with his fist in the air, realizing his actions in a brief pause of vulnerability just before he swung his arm.

"Suzuhara!" Hikari gasped in the background.

But it never came.

Toji let out an irritated growl. He unfurling his grip on Shinji, allowing the boy to fall limply back into his wheelchair.

Kensuke was the first speak up. "Hey, what's gotten into you?"

Toji puffed air from his nostrils and crossed his arms, diverting his gaze away from the onlookers. "My sister was… caught under a falling building during the attack," he grumbled.

"Oh no…" Hikari breathed, "Is Sakura…?"

"-In the hospital," Suzuhara continued as he leaned on a desk. "She got crushed under some debris when the robot destroyed half the city. Her arm and leg are both shattered."

Shinji's eyes darkened, cast under the shadow of regret as he absorbed Toji's painful words.

"Is that where you've been this time?" Kensuke asked.

"My dad and grandpa are too busy with their jobs so they don't have time to see her, so I'm the only one who visits her. Maybe if the pilot weren't so damn reckless then she wouldn't have to be in that stupid hospital…" he grumbled.

Kensuke opened his mouth tentatively to defend Shinji right as the teacher walked into the room, unaware of the lingering tension. The class scurried back into their seats, marking the beginning of the school day.

Guilt festered in Shinji's mind throughout lunch. He prodded his food with his chopsticks, rolling around the little bits of meat he had prepared that morning. Kensuke studied him, noticing his friend's lack of enthusiasm.

"Just give him a bit time," he said. "Besides, you didn't mean to hurt his kid sister like that."

Shinji frowned, not bothering to look up from his meal. "I should've done something about it," he mumbled. "It's my fault."

"C'mon Shinji! You couldn't have known that would've happened."

"But it still did. He was right to blame me," Shinji sighed, tossing aside his chopsticks beside his barely-touched lunch.

Kensuke shot another glance at him before resigning to the buttons and switches on his new camera.

The satisfying 'fwhoop' of a basketball falling through the net of the hoop was a relaxing sound to hear. It was his favorite pastime, and he felt that being decent the sport certainly made up for his lack of educational prowess.

Toji dribbled the ball and assumed the familiar shooting position. He held the ball in his right hand, steadied by the support of his left, and launched it with careful preparation.

It slammed into the backboard, letting out a distinct tone as it rebounded off the backboard, onto the worn, red rim and bounced across the cement.

Toji, visibly agitated, picked up the ball and shot again, focusing more on the way he launched the orange sphere with his wrist.

His carefulness paid off with a clean throw and the ball sliding down and through the net with grace.

Toji puffed a breath of air through his nose, finally satisfied with his score. Without many people remaining in the city, it was hard to find some people to practice with. The fact that he was visiting his hospitalized sister so frequently made it especially more difficult.

He readied himself again, lining himself up with the hoop and internally calculating the arc he would throw at. He positioned himself in the same manner as before and felt a surge of confidence as the bell just left his fingertips-

"Toji!" shouted a feminine voice.

He jolted, barely affecting the trajectory of the ball yet causing it to collide with the side of the metal rim.

"Hey!" Toji shouted and turned around to view the basketball court's intruder. "What the hell was that for!"

Behind him, Hikari firmly planted her feet. Although she was not the tallest girl in the school, her imposing presence as the leader of Class 2-A certainly gave her a metaphorical height advantage over her fellow classmates.

Toji looked confused. "Huh? Class Rep? What're you doing out here?"

"Doing my job! You shouldn't have treated Shinji like that!"

"Jeez, it's none of your business," Toji grumbled.

"But he's your friend," she replied.

Her authoritative eyes softened and she relaxed her stance. "I… understand where you're coming from. I'm so sorry to hear about what happened to Sakura, I can't imagine what it must be like. My sister, Nozomi- if anything happened to her..."

Toji turned his head away from Hikari, trying to coolly spot something in the distance.

"Point is, Shinji never meant for that to happen."

"Yeah, whatever," Toji mumbled as he rolled his eyes. "I know that."

"Then please just go and apologize to him," she pleaded. "His life is already hard enough- you already know this. The way your sister got hurt; I think he already knows what it's like, and I don't think he would ever want someone in that position."

Toji stood pensively, thinking deeply about Hikari's insightful words.

"If you won't apologize, just go talk to him, okay?" she asked.

He exhaled a deep breath of air. "Fine," he sighed. "I'll… I'll think about it."

As Hikari departed from the courts, Toji picked up the basketball again, preparing himself for another shot with rhythmic dribbles. The ball flung from his fingertips and cleanly slid through the hoop, bouncing along the concrete floor.

The school bell rang- no, it wasn't the school bell. It was the Angel alarm.

 _A special state of emergency has been declared for the Kanto and Chubu regions surrounding the Tokai District. All residents must evacuate to their designated shelters immediately._

Another Angel was coming.

It was just what they needed.

* * *

 **A/N:**

Hi. Sorry it's been longer than I had planned for the release of this chapter. I actually had most of this written out since I released Chapter 1, and I originally intended for them to be released together. However, I absolutely hated writing this at first, and I constantly wanted to revise it, so I had to delay its release for longer than I wanted. But hey, I didn't give up that easily!

Thanks for the reviews, reading, favorites, etc., I really appreciate it.

(I'll try to get Chapter 3 out faster but I have no promises. At all. Seriously it might take longer, I don't know.)


	3. Chapter 3: His Heart Unspoken

**You Can (Not) Run Away**

 **Chapter 3:**

* * *

Twelve black monoliths floated in a circle around a partially-shadowed figure. Each were inscribed with bright red lettering and a corresponding number written in a highly-contrasting red color as well as the words "SOUND ONLY" written just below.

"Ikari, we have come to the understanding that you gave that _toy_ of yours to your one son," SEELE 02 remarked.

"Indeed, and there should be no worry," Gendo Ikari coolly reassured. "The boy is well under my control."

A different voice chimed in. "And what of his medical records? Are you saying we should not be concerned about the boy's ability to pilot?"

"I can assure you that the situation is not being mistreated. The Third Child's piloting will not be hindered by this inconvenience, and your scenario will still continue."

The communications came to brief halt, silenced by a gentle whirring of distant machinery.

SEELE 01 was the first to speak up again. "The Fourth Angel has appeared," he stated, "just as the Scrolls have indicated. Alert your organization, Commander Ikari, you are dismissed to your _toy._ We shall continue this conversation another time."

One-by-one the monoliths disappeared into the darkness, the red illumination lost in the shadows of the darkened conference room.

* * *

Toji stretched his legs across the lightly-padded flooring of the emergency shelters. He strung his shoes around his neck, flexing his unveiled toes as they breathed in the 'fresh' air of the underground. He leaned back with the weight of body collapsed through his palms which propped him upright as his eyes were lost in a pensive gaze.

Beside him, Kensuke sat cross-legged and in his usual position: hunched over a video-camera as he rifled through his recordings as he determined what to delete.

Shinji wasn't there, obviously, as he was actually the one fighting the Angel as the famed pilot of that _thing_ they called Evangelion. Toji curled his fingers against the flooring and anxiously fidgeted his legs as he did so. The conversation he shared with Hikari on the basketball courts- why did she care about him so much anyway? Was it just her being protective about him? Everyone around Shinji seemed to be that way, always looking out for the kid in the wheelchair- Toji presumed.

"Can you believe this?" Kensuke audibly muttered.

Toji snapped forward out of his stupor. "Believe what?" he asked.

"We're missing all the action!" the Aida boy exclaimed. "The government won't show any of the battle to us civilians! This is news censorship! An incredible historic event is taking place and I can't believe I'm missing out!"

"So? What're you doing to do about it? You're not seriously thinking about sneaking out!"

"I gotta see the battle! It's a once-in-a-lifetime chance!" he exaggerated. "If we let this opportunity escape us, we may lose it forever!"

"You're going to get killed out there if you go," Toji cautiously observed.

"Who's to say the risk isn't the same here in shelters? Just please help me unlock the gate!" Kensuke pleaded with a quieter voice. "Besides, don't you think we should be out there supporting Shinji on the front lines?"

Toji groaned. He knew his military-geek friend wasn't going to stop with his incessant begging. "Fine," he sighed.

Kensuke cheered, and the two boys rose from their meager seating arrangement and found their way to Hikari's station.

"Class Rep," Toji nagged, "we both gotta use the bathroom."

Hikari raised her eyebrow. "Fine, but you really should've gone before this."

Toji shrugged it off in his 'cool-guy' manner and led the way to the bathrooms with Kensuke eagerly tailing him.

* * *

"The Fourth Angel _would_ show up while Commander Ikari's away," Misato noted. "It's a lot sooner than expected."

"The last time they gave us fifteen years," Makoto Hyuga commented, "the break's gotten shorter this time around."

"They never care about _our_ situation, do they? They're the kind we women hate the most," Misato responded with a cheeky attitude.

Above, on the view-screen in the command center, an energetic barrage of explosions harmlessly tickled the surface of the demonic Fourth Angel; some sort of crude representation of an oceanic creature, composed of mauve skin, a false set of eyes along where a head would be, and an array of arthropodal limbs, akin to some sort of scorpion's which enclosed its underbelly.

"It's a waste of the taxpayer's money," Sub-Commander Fuyutski smugly observed.

Shigeru Aoba rotated his chair around to address the supervising official. "The committee is demand we dispatch an Evangelion again."

"They're more obnoxious than the Angels!" Misato quirked. "I'd have mobilized even if they hadn't asked!"

* * *

Kensuke sprinted with exceptional speed that even Toji, a considerably athletic person, found it laborious to keep up with him as they raced up the stone steps of the woody-hilltop. They breezed through the entrance of the wooden torii as they took the final steps onto the plateau which overlooked the grand panorama of Tokyo-3.

That was when they saw _it_ , the gargantuan beast that single-handedly evacuated the entirety of city's citizens to their shelters. It was understandably so, as its size easily transcended beyond the heights of any skyscraper, even as it appeared with a hunch near its 'neck'.

Kensuke quickly positioned his video-camera at an optimal viewing angle and looked through the lens. "Cool! All my efforts really paid off!" he giddily exclaimed. "I've been waiting for this moment all my life!"

Toji would not admit it, but he was scared. He was terrified, actually. He had never seen such enormous capacity before, save for those old movies about giant monsters attacking Tokyo. No, this was a _real_ threat, nothing of those found in fiction. He stood, gazing into the lifeless 'eyes' of the abomination, the surreal unusualness of the moment pulling him from reality.

The screeching sound of metal scraping against more metal shook the ground, like a massive train was traveling at top-speed through the empty streets as if it were a car speeding along an empty highway. A military-style, smooth-faced building that lacked windows slid open one of its sides to reveal an equally-enormous, metallic titan painted with polished purple and vibrant green highlights.

 _'This is it! That must be him!'_

"There it is!" Kensuke shouted for him. "The Evangelion! That's Shinji!"

The mecha turned its enormous head upwards as if it were awakened from a deep slumber as it held onto a large version of some sort of futuristic military-grade rifle. The Angel was standing right before the building it entered from, just across the other side and blind to its sudden appearance.

The Evangelion swung around with great speed and dexterity and fired a deafening bullet storm at the Angel. A cloud of smoke quickly rose, covering the flashes of light caused by the miniature explosions that the gun's ammunition caused.

There was a pause in the attack as the Eva seemed to hesitate, believing that the target was already subdued. Two neon, pinkish-purple whips violently shot out from the smoke at an alarming speed, slicing through the building like a hot knife through a slab of butter, causing Unit 01 to collapse to the ground by reflex. The tip of the gun was also caught by the Angel's attack, rendering it useless.

Nearby, another military-type building opened to reveal more gigantic armaments, but the Evangelion failed to budge from its defeated sitting position.

"C'mon, Shinji! Get up!" Kensuke hopelessly prodded to his friend in the Eva. "I think you must've really messed him up back there!"

Toji curled his hands into fists and his eyebrows scrunched together in irritation. "Oh shut up!" he shouted.

The Suzuhara boy turned back to the ongoing battle right as Eva Unit 01 dodged another flurry of whip-attacks sent by the Fourth Angel. One by one did the surrounding edifices seem to crumble as the Evangelion barely evaded each incursion until the thick cable unwillingly detached from the back like an active plug being yanked from an electrical outlet.

Before Toji and Kensuke could register the organic weaponry wrapping itself around the Eva's leg, a blur of purple and green was flung into the sky right above where they were standing. They screamed in pure terror as the robot dropped from the heavens, instantaneously descending toward their position. The ensuing earthquake was worse than any Toji had experienced before, especially far worse than any of the natural ones that would infrequently rumble Japan's landscape.

He opened his eyes and brought his head out of his hands to find himself and Kensuke lodged between two purple logs. The smell… what was that? It smelled of iron, something familiar… no, he could recognize it from the times he had picked fights with older kids or he was hit in the face during basketball games. It was the smell of _blood_ , and judging by his condition as well as Kensuke's, it was not coming from either of them- it was coming from the Evangelion. But why did a robot smell of blood…?

The two boys trembled in fear as they looked up to the head of the giant that nearly crushed them- into the eyes of the boy who was the third member of their trio as they silently pleaded for survival.

The Angel approached, sending its two strings of organic weaponry at the Eva. Toji spat out the dirt that entered his mouth when the Evangelion rushed its hands away from around the boys to catch the electric tentacles in its 'bare' hands. He and Kensuke stared in an uncomfortable mixture of shock, awe, and fright pure, white energy sparkled in front of their unshielded eyes.

"Why isn't he attacking back?" Toji shouted.

"Maybe he can't move because we're down here!" Kensuke answered regretfully. "He can't because of us!"

Toji looked back at the Evangelion, thinking about what Kensuke had said. Shinji was stuck, and if he would get up and move, they would be flattened in the following action. He could do it so easily, and perhaps even out of necessity. This 'Angel' as they called it was powerful, more powerful than Shinji in his Eva. Two lives would mean nothing to the entire world, just another sacrifice for the greater good- a small price to pay for victory.

So why would Shinji not move? It was because he wouldn't do it, Toji reminded himself. He had known the new kid for a short amount of time, and even a jock like himself could recognize that Shinji wouldn't be able to forsake the lives of two others.

Before long, the back of the Evangelion split apart with precise organization and an elongated white pill shot out of its exposed machinery. A mechanical yet familiar voice blared over the speakers.

"You two! Get in! Now!"

It was Misato, as they quickly discovered, the buxom guardian that the two longed for! It was unfortunate for them that this time she was clearly in not in the mood for ambiguous flirtation, and neither were Toji and Kensuke. They hastily obeyed her commands, and climbed up some sort of fold-up ladder that descended from the pill marked "Unit 01".

As they entered, Toji could feel the sensation of a warm liquid as it began to fill the rest of the plug. He pinched his nose as the fluids raced up to his lips, and beside him he could hear Kensuke complaining about his camera getting ruined by the strange, water-like substance.

The plug lit up, and Toji and Kensuke quickly realized that they could actually _breathe_ in this blood-smelling water. More so did they realize that they could hear the struggling sounds coming from Shinji who was dressed in some sort of skin-tight, blue and white jumpsuit and sitting in some sort of pilot's chair with his gloved hands tightly wound around two control yolks as if he were some sort of jet pilot with two joysticks.

Toji looked up at the screen which Shinji's focus was fixated upon, finding himself face-to-face to the Angel's underbelly. Once he saw the Evangelion's grasp of the whips did he finally notice that his hands were giving off some sort of faint, tingling sensation as if minor jolts of electricity were scurrying across his palms.

He looked back at his crippled friend, his hands violently shaking the control yolks as he appeared to be taking the brunt of the pain. Shinji bared his teeth as he held in the pain and yanked the handles back then forcefully slamming them forward, sending the floating Angel off him and back in the direction of the city.

The view rose, ascending to a vague approximation of sixty meters in the air. The tingling sensation in his hands stopped, but a very faint burn lingered.

"Retreat!" Misato's voice erupted through the entry plug. "Get out of there! Utilize Recovery Route 34 and retreat to the east side of the mountain!"

Toji looked over the cockpit's chair at the pilot, whose dark brown hair had cast a shadow over his sad blue eyes. He kept his head low, seemingly unconfident and unsure- the exact opposite of any sort of hero they portrayed in movies and television. A lump formed in Toji's throat as he looked at the downcast Shinji, and he couldn't help but feel guilty that his actions had caused this.

"Shinji," Kensuke started as he lowered his now-defunct camera, "didn't she say to retreat? We should probably get out of here!"

The glasses-wearing boy's words apparently fell upon deaf ears as Shinji braced his hands back onto his controls. He gripped them with ferocious intent and pressed a button to unsheathe a knife from his left shoulder-pylon. Toji noticed Shinji's head slowly raise, his eyes revealing him to be in some sort of bizarre, alienated trance.

"Obey my orders, Shinji!" Misato shouted out again. "You've got to retreat! Shinji!"

The glowing orange timer at the side of the viewing panel of the entry plug ticked to one minute, letting out an alarming beeping noise and changing the color to a daring red hue. Shinji wailed in some sort of beastly battle cry as he charged down the hill. It was almost like he was a feral beast breaking out of its unwanted cage and lashing out at its captors.

The tendrils punctured through the Evangelion's stomach area, sending major feedback to its pilot and muted ones to its passengers. Toji winced in the pain and rubbed his hand across his chest to ensure there was no actual object that pierced him.

Shinji let out his bloodcurdling shriek as he held the brunt of the stabbings and lunged for the Angel. He aimed the knife he wielded toward the glowing sphere that radiated mystical crimson brilliance, which presented itself as some sort of cryptic power source.

The weapon broke the surface, entering the orb and causing the entire cockpit to rumble. The plug was completely reddened by the low-power light and the shining of the core itself, and incredible amounts of sparks flew across the Evangelion's face like a welder getting an up-close view of their work.

The tendrils squirmed through the Eva like a pair of snakes trying to slither through narrow mouse holes, sending while shocks through its cabin. A different female voice began counting down at the thirty second mark, apparently for the time that Evangelion had remaining. Not once during this time had Shinji stopped his screaming, to Toji's and Kensuke's disbelief.

Right before the countdown came to an end, the crack which the knife had entered in the Angel's core grew, splitting it open like a piece of glass. The red glow disappeared as the Evangelion's power supply dwindled, eventually darkening the entire plug. The Angel was dead, and the only sound that remained was Shinji's pathetic whimper as he held back choked tears with his hands still firmly pressed against the controls.

Toji was at a loss for words although his mouth hung open as if he meant to say something. The guilt that festered in him before only grew at this point as he was unable to find the right thing to say. It was apparent that Kensuke was too far in shock as well, judging by his similar reaction. It was not long before the rescue team had opened the hatch, finding the three boys frozen in place.

They hastily removed Shinji from the entry plug, settling him into a wheelchair and draping him with a towel to dry off the excess orange liquid that was dripping off his plugsuit. Toji took a hesitant step forward as they pushed him away, extending his hand out and opening his mouth as if he was meant to say something. It was too late, however, as the NERV workers were swift and efficient in their task, and the wheelchair-bound boy was already gone.

* * *

 _Days after the fight_

"So Misato, how's our little pilot doing?" Ritsuko asked, not attempting to look up from the glowing lights of the computer screen.

"He's still in bed," Misato answered softly.

"Do you think he's still willing to pilot?"

"I'm not sure," she said tentatively. "Piloting Eva… I don't think he likes it anymore."

"Doesn't he?"

"He can walk in it, but now every time he gets in Eva it only brings him pain. I can't imagine putting that much on a fourteen-year-old kid."

"We don't have any other option. These kids are the only ones who can pilot Eva."

"But why, Rits? Why them?" Misato questioned.

Ritsuko's eyes stayed glued to the image of the bandaged and scarcely-dressed Rei Ayanami as a multi-colored grid of lights hovered over her body.

"It's just the way it is…"

* * *

Shinji emptied his catheter into the toilet.

God, how he despised it.

It was disgusting, some reminder that he was never going to be normal.

The only part of it that was bearable was the fact that he had been used to it for so long that he grew accustomed to its presence.

He looked into the mirror, examining the sad reflection that greeted him. His eyes were hardly open and small bags formed underneath. How long had it been since the last Angel arrived? Three days, maybe? No, not that long. Maybe two. Or maybe even four. He didn't know anymore; the days seemed to blend together.

After washing up, he headed back to his bedroom. He gripped onto the bed cover and haphazardly pulled himself onto the mattress, leaving his flaccid legs to awkwardly slope off to one side. He never even bothered with the sheets which were already underneath his weight and too bothersome to adjust anyway. Shinji turned his head to the alarm clock's red glow. It was just past seven in the morning, as redundantly notified by the light that trickled through his blinds.

He was dressed in his customary sleeping attire, as he had not bothered to go through the annoying process of getting changed. Why should he anyway? He was not going anywhere, not even if he tried. He remembered the words of Misato's lecture that came to him after his fight with the Fourth Angel and how she was incredibly irritated with him- the first time she had been since he had moved in.

She had a right to be mad at him. He disobeyed her direct orders. Why did he anyway? He didn't really know the answer himself. If he retreated, what would that have accomplished? The Angel would have won, probably caught up with him and taken him by surprise. Or it would have destroyed the city. Did it matter? No, it didn't. The Angel was defeated, and that was all that mattered, right…?

Angels. That's what it was all about. They were the reason he was brought to the city- the reason he almost had some sort of purpose. They were the reason Eva existed, and by extent the reason he could walk again. Part of him just wanted it to be over. The pain he felt in Eva, the pain he caused to others. That part of him wanted to run away- run _far_ away. Away from the pain and grief, just anywhere that wasn't here.

But he knew he couldn't. What difference would it make? He would just end up where he was now. It didn't matter. Nothing did. He looked over at his beloved S-DAT resting at the opposite end of his bed near his feet, much too far away for him to muster his strength to retrieve it.

"Shinji, wake up! How long are you going to be avoiding school?" Misato's voice came from behind his bedroom door, interrupting his conflictions. "It's been three days now."

He heard her, albeit it was a bit muffled. What was he to respond? A large part of him refused to go to school, although the rational side recognized that his already meager grades would only further tumble.

"Shinji," Misato called again. "Shinji?"

A sliver of light crept into the bedroom as Misato peeked inside. Shinji reacted to the sudden entrance of the light by rolling over as best he could, turning his back to his guardian as she took a step inside.

"Shinji," she began, "are you just going to lie around in bed all day? Unit 01's already completed repaired. You're the pilot, are you just going to leave it sitting there?"

Shinji frowned, although Misato would not be able to see it.

What did Unit 01 mean to him anyway? Unit 01 gave him something- something he had longed for so desperately. But piloting it… fighting the Angels… why did it have to hurt so much? Toji's sister was hurt. He felt like he betrayed some sort of unspoken trust between his friend. It was his fault. He had training. If only he had been more-

Shinji's thoughts were cut short by the sound of the soft chime of the doorbell.

"Just a minute!" Misato shouted down the hallway. She turned back to Shinji's limp form which still had not bothered to even spare her a glance.

* * *

Toji gulped. It had been days since the last time he and Kensuke saw Shinji, and the sad image of him whimpering at his controls was still fresh in his mind. He knew he needed to apologize, but the opportunity slipped through the grasp of his fingers each time. He first tried calling, but apparently neither he nor Misato were home at the time of his attempt. There was no second time. Beside him, Kensuke patiently awaited the arrival of Shinji's guardian.

The door slid open, revealing the woman herself dressed in her classic NERV attire made apparent by her short red jacket that suited her so well.

"Hi, you two," she greeted as she adjusted her hastily-prepared outfit.

"Uh- hi, Miss Misato!" Toji stumbled, bringing his feet together and straightening his posture. "I-is Shinji ready to go back to school…?"

Kensuke shot him a strange look as he noted his friend's awkward reintroduction.

"Shinji's… not feeling not feeling well today," she hesitantly answered.

"Oh," Toji dismayed.

"Why don't you come back another time?"

"… right."

Misato sent to boys off, giving her best attempt at a smile and a friendly wave goodbye.

"That was Toji and Kensuke right then," she said to Shinji after she walked back to the entrance of his room. "I told them to come back again another time."

She drifted back out into the hallway. "I… thought I should let you know that. They're worried about you too, you know," she said. She slid the door shut, the faint traces of light barely visible through the bottom and top cracks.

* * *

Rain pattered against the windows, each individual droplet streaking down the side of the window pane. The sun was well-hidden behind layers of overlapping dark gray, not a trace leftover. The fields were soaked, along with the running tracks and basketball courts being flooded with water.

"Hey, didya notice?" Kensuke prodded Toji, as he glanced over to the other side of the classroom. "Ayanami's back!"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. What's up with those bandages?"

"Well, didn't Shinji mention that she got hurt in an accident involving Eva? That must be why she's like that! Call me crazy, but I think it's worth the risk to pilot one of those bad boys!"

"You idiot, you were already in one! Wasn't that enough? And is it really worth it to get hurt like that all the time?"

"They are the cutting edge of mankind's prowess," the geek ranted. "What I would give to actually pilot one…"

"There's no way I'm getting in one. They'd have to bribe me or something. It's all too stupid and dangerous."

"Well it's much more exciting than sitting by and doing nothing! C'mon, you gotta at least admit that!"

Toji rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, man."

And as on any other day, their elderly teacher meandered his way into the classroom, ready to initiate another tedious lecture. Toji peered over nonchalantly, catching a glimpse at the newly-returned, enigmatic student with the light blue hair.

Bandages wrapped around her that apparently remained from some prior accident. Regardless, she sat with her head in her available arm, hardly even paying any attention to whatever that day's lesson was going to be about. She stared through the window, although thanks to the gloomy weather, not much was to be seen. He silently remarked that Shinji also possessed his own injuries from fighting the Angels on top of his more obvious one. These pilots, they were the same age as him, weren't they? Regardless, they defended the city. They were out on the front lines, protecting everyone from the Angels. Shinji, although previously disadvantaged, still fought, even though it was less than a month since his arrival.

Toji admired that. Whether it was out of necessity or desire to pilot, Shinji persevered. He sighed. These pilots were indeed strange people…

* * *

The school day drifted to a conclusion, and most of the students eager to head home or to the arcade especially since the rain had cleared. On most normal days, Toji would fall into that category. Today, he had a mission. He headed down the staircase in front of the school, waving off Kensuke as he attended to clean-up duties.

He took a familiar route, one often chosen for his morning commute and often accompanied with another friend. Soon he found himself standing right outside the apartment building pressing the elevator's 'up' button. As the doors slid open, he quickly took his first step across the threshold, only to redact it just as quickly when he recognized the person standing inside.

Or rather, _sitting_ inside.

Shinji looked up from his wheelchair, his hands already gripping wheels as he was ready to depart. The two shared a brief stare before Toji stepped back outside of the elevator in attempt to make room for Shinji as he exited. The standing boy noticed that behind his seat was some sort of duffle bag strapped to the back.

"Uh, hey! Shinji, I was just looking for you," Toji said, clearing his throat. "Look man, I'm sorry for what I did."

Shinji looked back to him curiously. "For-"

"-for tossing you around a few days ago," he interrupted. "I shouldn't have done it- I just couldn't control myself."

"… you had a right to do it. I couldn't control the Eva and your sister got hurt-"

"Hey, shut it!" Toji suddenly snapped back.

Shinji was slightly taken back, confused at the swift change in tone.

"It wasn't your fault, okay? I get it now! I guess I kinda knew that before but I couldn't admit it. I'm sorry, okay? Listen, the doctors say Sakura's gonna be fine… eventually. She's just gonna be the in the hospital for a while."

Shinji opened his mouth again, almost as if to say something.

"-you can hit me back, or something," Toji confessed. "I won't be satisfied until you do."

"I don't think I can-"

"Please," he said bending forward slightly in an open position to receive a punch. "I don't care if you'll forgive me, but I need it. I'm the one who deserves it for being such an ass."

"Toji-"

"C'mon man, just do it already!"

Shinji paused and examined the tracksuit-wearing person before him. He balled his right hand and swung the same arm back in energetic preparation. His fist jolted forward in surprising rapidity, striking Toji's left cheek with a powerful right hook. He exhaled as he retracted his arm and Toji stepped back, cradling the injured side of his face with his hands and wincing at the pain.

"Huh. You got a pretty good hit," he noted and he held back the pain. "Thanks… I needed that."

Surprisingly, Toji smiled back at Shinji after he finished rubbing his cheek. "Hey, one more thing. I was going to go visit Sakura, and she doesn't get too many visitors. I was wondering… if you don't have anything to do… maybe you'd want to come with me to see her? I mean, if you're busy or something that'd be cool too, you don't have to go. She doesn't blame you or anything, I just figured she might want some company or whatever, you know?"

Shinji was taken back by his offer. First, an apology and now this? Perhaps he really meant it…

"… okay," he questionably nodded.

"Eh- really? Great! She's been pretty bored in there all day and I'm sure she'd love some visitors. Hey, I just gotta make a quick stop before go, okay?"

"Al…alright."

Turns out that stop really meant a flower shop located on the route to the hospital which Toji quickly ducked inside, hoping to avoid anyone he knew other than Shinji. A few minutes later, he returned with a small arrangement of rose-pink cherry blossoms freshly trimmed and neatly tied together by the stems with a matching pink ribbon.

Just the sight of his tough-guy, athletic, top of the basketball roster friend holding such a dainty and perhaps demasculinizing object made Shinji to nearly fall out of his wheelchair.

"Sh-shut up!" Toji barked, swinging back into his usual persona. "You're a dead man if you tell anyone about these!"

Normally, Shinji would respect his friends' requests. That is, if he was able to hear them over his own laughter.

It wasn't before too long that they arrived at the hospital. Toji greeted the young secretary behind the desk and she responded back with a cheerful wave and head nod as they passed by. The two reached their designation after Toji skillfully navigated through the hallways, finding themselves right before the door of Room 210.

"Well, we're here," Toji stated before he gave the door a gentle knock.

"Come in!" came a young, squeaky voice from inside the room.

He entered, flowers in one hand and a cheerful attitude in the other.

"Toji!" Shinji heard the girl gleefully call out as he still sat outside by the entrance.

"Hey!" Toji greeted in return.

Shinji bit the inside of his bottom lip and tentatively entered the room. As expected, a little girl rested on the hospital bed. She was young, somewhere younger than eight years old. She had brown hair not dearly as darkened as her brother's and slightly lighter skin- although the Suzuhara facial attributes were still vaguely noticeable.

Her arm was bent into a cast that was suspended around her neck as was her leg that suspended to the ceiling. Regardless of these obvious signs of injury, she wore a sweet expression- an innocent one void of the malicious intentions of the world. In fact, it almost appeared as if her smile could convince someone that she was actually _happy_ that she was admitted to the hospital.

"And you brought a friend! Hello!"

"Uh- hi!" Shinji awkwardly greeted.

"Sakura, this is Shinji," Toji introduced. "Uh, Shinji Ikari."

"Wow!" she cheered. "You're the one who saved the city in the giant robot, aren't you!"

"I, uh- I guess…"

"C'mon Ikari, no need to be modest!" Toji commended. "And that's _twice_ now, remember Sakura?"

"You were so cool out there!"

"I- uh, thanks?" Shinji stammered. "I'm… I'm really sorry, I didn't mean this to happen to you."

"Nah, s'okay!" she grinned. "It was an accident, right? Accidents happen to all of us every now and then. Toji! You brought me flowers? They're so pretty~!"

Shinji sat, partially stunned by her response. That was it? It wasn't just that she so easily forgave him, but she had brushed it off like the accident was nothing!

"Yup! I know they're your favorite, kiddo," Toji smiled as he rustled her hair.

Shinji shared that smile. He had never seen this side of him before, and it was as if punching him indirectly punched the metaphorical wall between the two since the accident with the Third Angel.

It was refreshing- the most refreshing feeling he felt in a long, long time.

* * *

 **A/N:**

Nyo-ho!

I've finally completed this chapter. It was a bit of a challenge, as it mostly focused in on Toji's perspective and the inner conflictions that he felt. Anyway, as always, I'd like to thank all you people who favorite, followed, reviewed, etc. Hell, even those that just gave this a read. I really appreciate it more than you might think, and I truly hope that you enjoy this little project I've been pissing out.

I have no promises on the rapidity of this story because these new few months are going to be pretty busy. I'm also reworking the outline I made for this story because I wasn't pleased with its original storyline, so hang tight.

Thanks for reading!

Now go read something better.

Maybe some Jojo.

Yeah, I think I'll do that, actually.


	4. Chapter 4: To the Best of My Ability

**You Can (Not) Run Away**

 **Chapter 4:**

* * *

"Quite remarkable, isn't it?" a smooth, manly voice spoke. "Two-for-two already, and he _just_ barely arrived."

"Pfft, beginner's luck," a young female voice scoffed with a haughty tone. "Just wait until they get to see what a _real_ pilot can do."

The man ran his hand along his unshaven chin, brushing against the dash of ungroomed hair just as he brushed off his young ward's immaturity.

"And just when is this boat finally going to get to Japan?" she continued impatiently.

"Excited to meet this new prodigy, are you?" the man smirked in return. "Sounds like you could use a boyfriend your age..."

He loved the girl in an unconventional way, as if she her relation to him were more of a younger sibling rather than anything romantically although they had no true familial relation. Logically, it made sense that if any opportunity came along to distract her from constantly barraging him with inappropriate affection, he would take it wholeheartedly.

"No way!" she squealed, instantly changing her demeanor and wrapping herself around his arm as they walked down one of the ship's many hallways. "You know _you're_ the only one for me, Kaji," she said dreamily. "That new pilot's just a _boy_ , not a _man_ like you!"

Kaji sighed in defeat. He took another sip of his disappointingly bland coffee as the girl only seemed to tighten her hold around him, as if he were some sort of stuffed teddy bear meant to comfort her. And supposing that the redheaded girl suddenly developed an attraction to stuffed animals.

Alcohol was a scarcity to bring on these missions, and he certainly regretted it.

* * *

"It's been forever, but I finally did it!" Kensuke proclaimed as he displayed his newest achievement. "The new RZ-2000, a real improvement over my last camera that was taken away by NERV!"

"Uh-huh," Shinji spoke as he ate his lunch, barely attempting to feign interest. He looked over in Rei's direction where she sat uninterested in anyone else's affairs and chose to look out the window. She never appeared to eat lunch, as any other day. Sometimes she would read instead of partaking in conversations like the other students.

"This baby's fully-loaded with 3.6x optical zoom…"

"Yep."

"20.2 megapixels with dedicated COS sensor…"

"Yeah."

"Hey, Shinji, why're ya looking over at Ayanami so much? You checkin' her out?" Toji prodded with a grin.

"Huh?"

"Fully adjustable aperture settings…" Kensuke rambled without realizing that he lost his audience.

"You know, checking out her silky thighs…" Toji continued.

"Pressure-sensitive activation…"

"Those breasts…"

"So beautifully-crafted…"

"Those naughty bits…

"I just can't wait to fill 'er up!"

"It-it's not like that!" Shinji retaliated. "I-I don't care about those things!"

"Hey, you might not find this so interesting but you don't have to be so rude about it!"

"Face it Ikari, I caught you staring at her."

"Well… I just… thought she looked lonely over there."

"Wait, my camera?"

Toji rolled his eyes. "Not your camera, dumbass. We're talking about Rei."

"Oh," he said, slightly disappointed.

"She never brings her own lunch and she never talks to anyone," Shinji wistfully noted.

"Yeah, she's kinda weird," Toji commented as he gave Shinji a nudge. "Must be a pilot thing, huh?"

"I guess so," he spoke, disinterestedly. "Maybe."

* * *

"Synch ratio holding at a steady 52%," Maya stated, her eyes not once turning from the numbers dancing across her computer screen.

"Try pushing it a little bit more, I think he can take it," Ritsuko responded.

"Right. Plug depth descending at 0.34."

"Shinji," Ritsuko spoke into a microphone, "how are you feeling?"

"Fine," Shinji replied. His eyes were closed, his breathing steadied in a calming pace that he had practiced for nearly two months since he was summoned to NERV. "I think I can do a little more."

"Maya?"

"Roger. Now at 0.635."

"And what's he at now?"

"54.3%"

"Excellent," Ritsuko said as she scribbled away on her clipboard. "That'll do for now. Very good work today, Shinji."

"Thank you," he responded, admittedly a bit proud of his accomplishment.

After exiting from the plug, Shinji headed to the locker room to begin the tenuous task of changing his clothes. He had gotten used to having to change himself despite his impairment over the past years, although the effort had been made much more difficult since he had to discard his skin-tight plugsuit that was often drenched with an unpleasing layer of LCL.

By the time he completed this chore, Misato was waiting for him outside as she leaned against the wall with one foot propped up and the other keeping herself balanced and upright.

"Hey, ready to go?" she asked, kicking herself off. "We gotta pick up some food for tonight's dinner on the way home for when Rits comes over."

"Huh? Oh, right- I guess I forgot."

"I hope that doesn't mean you're not going to be cooking," Misato chided.

"Yeah, don't worry, I will," he said, remembering Ritsuko's dinnertime experience the first time she came over.

"So," Misato began as they continued their walk under the fluorescent lights of NERV's halls, "something on your mind? I heard you did well on your tests today; highest score you've gotten since your first battle."

"It's Rei, I guess."

"Oooh," Misato swooned, giving him a playful jostle- nearly sending him out of his wheelchair at that.

"Is there anything more _I_ should know about, hmmm?"

"Misato…" Shinji exasperated, mildly annoyed at her remark.

"Ah- lighten up, Shinji. Just teasin' you; you're too easy to pick on."

Shinji sighed. "She just… during school she doesn't do much- or, uh, she doesn't really say much either. She just looks so… lonely."

"Well why don't you go talk to her? I thought you two got along?"

"Well, I guess. Sort of. We never really said too much, but I guess I didn't know what to expect when she came back to class. I still don't really know that much about her."

"Rei's a... nice girl," Ritsuko added as the three found themselves surrounding Misato's dining room table with well-prepared dinner arrangement strewn across its surface as an example of Shinji's fine cooking prowess. Pen Pen joyfully munched away at the grilled fish sitting his bowl- a much needed improvement over Misato's questionable curry and beer dinners. "Which reminds me," she chided herself, "I keep forgetting to give her new security card."

"I can do that, if you'd like," Shinji volunteered.

"Oh, you don't have to Shinji. I don't want to inconvenience you."

"No, no- it's fine. Not a big deal."

"Well alright, if you say so," she said, handing him Rei's security card.

Shinji reached over the table and pinched the plastic's edges. Her profile shot was an accurate representation of how she always acted: stoic and reserved. He stopped and stared at her picture, not realizing that the conversation had broken.

Ritsuko continued her thoughts before Misato's open mouth was able to pester him again about his fascination of Rei. "I guess it's just that she's a lot like your father, in some ways. She's not very adept at…"

"Huh?" Shinji asked, raising his head. "Adept at what?"

"Living, I guess," she pointed out as she took a delicate bite of roasted pork. "You know Misato, I'm pretty envious that you have Shinji around to cook these great meals. He's got some real talent for this."

Shinji blushed at the well-deserved compliment. "It's nothing really…"

Misato slammed down her third can of beer on the table. "Oh don't be so _modest_ , Shinji- this stuff is great! Although, maybe you could try making some curry ramen someday…"

Ritsuko and Shinji collectively (and quietly) gagged at the reminder of Misato's abnormal food creations.

"Hey, maybe after the Angels you could work as a chef!" she continued, imagining him in a white apron and chef's hat while he grasped a spatula and knife in each of his hands in a heroic pose. "Speaking of which, what _are_ you planning to do once this is over?"

"I don't know, I haven't really thought about it much. I don't know I should go live with my teacher again… I don't know if he wants me back."

"Well you always have a home here, Shinji. Me, you, and Pen Pen of course," she said, grabbing her feathered companion from the ground and cuddling him so aggressively that he'd almost rather be eating instant food again.

"Wark…!"

"I'm sure she appreciates not eat that rehydrated sewer paste she calls food everyday too," Ritsuko joked.

"Hey!"

"Listen Shinji," she continued, ignoring her colleague's outburst, "don't let one bad roommate ruin the experience here for you."

"But I've gotten used to it?"

"He's right, Ritsuko," Misato dismissed, waving a recently-emptied can of beer, "besides, me and him get along great! I'd say it's pretty great here at _Casa de Katsuragi!"_

"You mean, of course, having poor Shinji clean up after you?" Ritsuko snorted. "If I recall back to our college days, you and Kaji _were_ always at his place instead of that pigsty yours…"

Misato gagged on a sip of her next drink. "THAT MAN'S MORE OF A PIG THAN I COULD EVER BE!" she suddenly erupted, spewing droplets of beer and saliva across the table.

"Hey," Shinji softly interjected while turning his head, "who's this 'Kaji'?"

"A jerk, that's what!" Misato exclaimed. "Just a plain and simple two-timing, slimy piece of…" she mumbled.

"-he's an old 'friend' of Katsuragi's," Ritsuko calmly answered. "The three of us went to college together, actually. It's been ages since we all met up…" she reminisced.

"And for good reason," Misato huffed.

"You say that, _but…_ "

"-but nothing. It's all in the past now. He can rot for all I care."

Ritsuko chuckled and rested back in her chair, feeling accomplished that she successfully stoked the temperamental flames of the Misato-furnace.

* * *

A muffled buzz sounded off as Shinji again released his finger from the doorbell.

Still no answer, nor any audible movement approaching the metal door. The entire apartment complex was built in an older, run-down part of Tokyo-3, somewhere far from the demolished remains left by the Angel attacks. Still, construction efforts caused noise pollution to the area, creating a nuisance more frequent and bothersome than the Japanese cicada- certainly something people would tend to avoid when establishing living quarters.

Still, it was strange why Rei appeared to choose a place like this.

The outdoor hallways to her apartment were clean, at least- something that Shinji and his wheelchair were certainly thankful for. Regardless, obvious chips and scratches spread across the concrete of the building, and exposed wiring was frequent amongst the rusted metal.

Envelopes and other mail items were hopelessly jammed into Rei's mail slot, some newer ones being discarded to the ground with the assumption that the mailperson eventually gave up.

 _'One last time,'_ Shinji thought to himself.

He curled his hand and gently knocked on the door. To his surprise, it swung slightly forward as a result. He pushed the door open slightly further, taking a curious peek into the darkened apartment.

"Hey, uh- Rei?" he called from the entrance. "It's me, Shinji Ikari. Ritsuko wanted me to deliver something to you."

His words were met by an eerie silence. He pushed the door open even further, met by stacks of more unread mail. It was almost like Misato's apartment, in that regard. Of course, save for the usual booming response of a partially-drunk guardian/NERV captain.

He bent over from his wheelchair and arranged the items as best he could. Although he wasn't trying to be nosey, he could not help but notice that none of the mail seemed important, mostly just random advertisements and other bits of garbage. It was almost no wonder she didn't seem to bother with checking the mail, although a bit of cleanup shouldn't be completely disregarded.

He set the newly-arranged messages on a nearby counter, quickly finding himself in what appeared to be a tiny kitchen, even by Japanese standards. Curiosity seemed to get the better of him as he realized that this was the dwelling of Rei, the pilot of Evangelion Unit 00 that he essentially knew _nothing_ about. He bumped into the slightly elevated floor, quickly remembering that not all genkans were completely wheelchair-accessible like Misato's renovated apartment.

Applying a bit of force, he managed to pull himself over the small ledge and further into what appeared to essentially be just a single room, primarily occupied by a filthy bed with a rusted metal frame, a small refrigerator, a brown dresser, and a lonely metal chair that sat in the middle. Bloodied white bandages were strewn across nearly all the bed as well as piling up in small trash can aside some random bits of debris.

The only source of light came from the partially obscured windows that were lackadaisically covered by thin drapes that fell to the cold metal floor. The ceiling was in disrepair, to mirror the rest of the apartment.

Shinji was taken back at the living quarters. He partially expected a little more to it, something a bit more maintained- at least something not this destitute. He found it appalling, as someone accustomed to any sort of decent establishment would.

He approached the miniature refrigerator, apparently forgetting the politeness of respecting one's privacy thanks to his unwavering sense of curiosity. He pried it open, finding only nothing but dried foods that need not be stored in a cold environment. It did not manner anyway, as the fridge barely seemed to be outputting any coldness. At least there wasn't any meat to go bad, he quietly remarked.

A glimmer of light caught the corner of his eye, leading him to close the barely-functioning box and approach the source. A pair of men's glasses rested atop the dresser amongst a glass and several types of mysterious pills, the package of which seemingly not available. The one lens had been cracked, and the frames appeared to have been bent back into their original shape after going through some sort of disfiguration.

"These can't be Rei's…" he quietly spoke.

The bizarre familiarity of the spectacles peaked his interest further, prompting him to try them on for himself. His vision quickly turned blurry, as expected. The glasses fit him surprisingly well, even to the point that if he needed to wear a pair, these would not need to be adjusted accordingly.

Behind him, a door shut with a click. He turned around still with the glasses obscuring his vision. A blurry image of a blue-haired girl with extremely pale and overexposed skin appeared in his sight. A brown bath towel draped around her shoulders, barely providing a sense of decency to her nude body.

Shinji choked on his words, failing to find the right thing to say being the intruder to someone else's home. "Rei! I- uh…"

 _'The shower wasn't even turned on, was it?'_

His words were cut off as the visage of her was quickly enlarged as she strode over to him and ripped off the well-fitting lenses. Shinji blinked twice back into reality, getting a better look at the person in front of him. He recoiled like he did in the hospital the first time properly meeting her, quickly diverting his gaze elsewhere while still blocking the dresser.

"I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to intrude! It's just that Ritsuko- and the mail- and there was the glasses-"

Rei completely ignored his comments, instead giving priority to returning the glasses to where they belonged. She reached past him, inadvertently leaning over him and grazing her partially breast against his opened, defensive palm. Shinji blushed a fiery red hue after realizing what he just felt.

"C-clothes, please!"

Meanwhile, Rei nonchalantly began dressing herself, as if the awkward encounter had never occurred in the first place.

"It's just that- uh, the- uh," Shinji hopelessly stammered. His hand seemed to have a mind of its own, folding and unfolding without any thought.

"Yes?"

He gulped. "Card! Here, yours. Ritsuko asked me to deliver this- it's your new security ID."

He held out the card by the time she slipped on her shoes, still trying to distract his eyesight elsewhere without realizing that she was fully-clothed. She swiped the care away from him, hardly even acknowledging whatever updated information was present.

"I'm sorry, this- it's my fault. Your door was open and your mail was a mess so I thought I'd just rearrange it for you- I didn't realize that you were home or anything."

He peeked through his fingers to see if she had been listening, hopefully to find that she had accepted his lackluster apology. Contrarily, she was gone- the only evidence that she had been there being her bath towel that lay discarded on the bed.

He pulled out his cellphone- the one that Misato gave to him when he first moved in with her. It was seldom-used, as he never had a need to call or text anyone in particular. Anytime he went out with Toji or Kensuke, they would usually walk him home instead of having to call and get Misato. It was time for him to depart, as the clock indicated, and he had no desire to be late for a synch test.

He left in a hurry, not before taking another look at the glasses. Even in its crooked reflection, he could only see his own visage staring back at him.

* * *

"Did you hear the big news?"

"What big news?"

"My dad says that they've completed work on the new Eva Unit!"

"I don't think I heard anything about that," Shinji replied.

"They say that it was built in NERV's base in Germany, and they've already chosen a pilot and everything!" Kensuke exclaimed.

"Are they bringing the Eva here?"

"That's what I heard! I can't wait to meet another pilot- not only that, but a _German_ pilot! That's sooo cool, I bet he knows all about German military strategies!"

"How would you know that?"

"Because I got some intel that this one's been training for a while, so he must be really good!"

"I wonder why they didn't bring him here to pilot instead of me."

"Does it matter? You've already killed two Angels! That's more than either Ayanami or the other pilot."

"Well, I guess you're right."

"Aren't I though?" Kensuke smirked. "Give yourself a bit of credit, Ikari, you're the real hero!"

"I'm not really, I'm just the guy they put in the Eva."

"Pfft, have it your way. Hey, have you seen Toji?"

"No, he left as soon as the lunch bell rang."

"Huh. He doesn't usually take this long getting something from the cafeteria. Maybe he's really hungry today?"

Shinji nodded in agreement and continued picking at his lunch. Sunlight basked the two boys with a gentle warmth. Kensuke sat on the windowsill, occasionally kicking his legs to pass the time. Shinji of course sat against the edge of a nearby desk, appreciating the relaxing break between classes.

"Excuse me, Pilot Ikari," came a familiar stoic voice.

Only a select few people called him by his more formal workplace name, and certainly no one used that while school was in session. He turned around, finding himself greeted by Rei Ayanami of all people, her unnaturally pale skin reflecting the light almost as if it were a mirror.

"Rei?" Shinji asked in confusion.

She extended her reach to him and opened her palm.

"I believe this is yours."

Shinji's eyes slightly widened in surprise. "My phone?" he asked while patting himself down, not realizing that it had gone missing in the first place. "How did you get that?"

"I have arrived at the conclusion that you left it at my apartment yesterday."

"Whoa!" Kensuke exclaimed. "What were you doing at Ayanami's house yesterday, Ikari?"

"I was just delivering her NERV security card," he responded, sounding slightly annoyed. "Thank you for returning this Rei, I don't know what kind of punishment Misato would've given me if she found out I lost this. Is… is there anything I can do for you in return?"

"No, I don't require anything."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," she replied before calmly returning to her seat.

Shinji's eyes followed her back until she sat back at her desk and pulled out another one of the books in her collection with no food in sight- a familiar and recognizable view of Rei Ayanami during lunchtime.

"Hey," Kensuke said, interrupting the silence, "isn't that Toji sitting outside? What's he doing out there- oh man! I think he's eating lunch with the class rep! Shinji, are you seeing this?"

"Hm?" he said, snapping out of his thoughts. "Those two? I guess I never really thought about them being together so much."

Kensuke placed his hands against the glass pane. "Man, we've been betrayed, and who knew it would be by _her!"_ Unsurprisingly, his new camera came out shortly after.

"Shouldn't you at least give them a little privacy?"

"I'm just getting evidence of that traitor! And it gives me something to put on here since we haven't had an Angel attack for a while. Since they took my last camera, I've got nothing! It's terrible!"

"It isn't so terrible that we haven't gotten attacked."

"You're right, but Evas and Angels are soooo cool…"

Shinji sighed and rested his head on his palm and his eyes skirted back in Rei's direction. She didn't seem to mind the Angels. Or anything, actually. For one to be so calm and collected during such tense times seemed an enigma to Shinji. He glimpsed down to his other hand, the realization that he was still grasping his phone suddenly flooding back to him. A simple act to return his item- but a thoughtful one at least.

* * *

"Ahhhhh…" Misato lethargically yawned as she entered the kitchen in her slightly indecent sleepwear. "Mornin' Shinji..."

The delightful aromas of an early-morning breakfast permeated across the thin walls of the apartment, captivating even the most tiresome beings and coaxing them out of the bed. Misato navigated around the feeding penguin toward the coffeemaker- the few kitchen appliances that she was an expert in using.

"Good morning, Misato," Shinji replied as he handed her a cup of steaming coffee without much thought. Black- just how she liked it.

"Mm?" Misato perked, slightly more awakened. "You seem on top of things this morning."

"Just figured I'd have an early start today."

"Well," she said, taking her seat at the table. "that makes one of us."

She leaned back, embracing the delightful warmth of the beverage.

"Hey, I just remembered," she continued, "Eva Unit 02's finishing touches have been-"

"Completed?" Shinji interrupted. "I heard from Kensuke."

Misato blinked. He actually _was_ on top on things today.

"Yeah, so next week I'll be picking up it and the pilot. Wanna join me? You can bring him and Toji if you want."

"Sure."

"Great! I figured it sounds much more interesting than staying here all the time. Think of it like a little mini-vacation! It'll be a fun getaway."

Misato peaked around his shoulder to catch a glimpse at the food he was cooking.

"Making enough lunch for the rest of the week?"

"Nope, just enough for sharing," he replied.

* * *

"Here you go, Rei," Shinji happily offered. He extended his arms toward her, cradling a delicately wrapped bento- chopsticks included.

Rei blinked in surprise, her stoic visage crumbled by his unexpected offer of generosity.

"It's for you," he continued, "I guess I never really said 'thanks' for you returning my phone yesterday. It's the least that I can do."

"I- okay," she said, still taken back. She accepted his gift, unpacking its gently-packed contents. A matching pair of octopus sausages stared back at her when she removed the lid, packed together with a masterfully-arranged assortment of rice, fruit, and vegetables. She hesitated slightly, her reaction unsure and unprepared.

"Is-is something wrong?" Shinji asked.

"I'm sorry. I don't eat meat."

"Oh, then some miso soup, then?" he replied, removing a small thermos from his bag strapped to the back of his wheelchair. He untwisted the lid and poured her a generous cup of the still-warm Japanese soup and offered it to her instead.

She stared inside the tiny bowl, her reflection barely visible against the rich beige broth. Mushrooms, tofu chunks, and bits of green garnish indicated a lack of meat, prompting her starving stomach to take a curious sip. The soup flooded her taste buds like blissful waves of nectar, granting her a sensational new dimension of flavor she had never experienced before. She peeked back inside the bowl with reserved wonder, doubting the reality of the situation.

"It's… delicious," she quietly responded, a hint of emotion being displayed across her face.

Shinji warmly smiled, pleased by her reaction.

"Can you believe him?" Toji said from across the room without being heard by either of the two pilots. "Does he have a thing for Ayanami or what?"

"Geez, you're the one to talk! You're the one who blew us off to have lunch with the class rep!" Kensuke retorted.

A hint of redness illuminated on Toji's cheeks as he realized he was caught. "Hey man, it's-it's just that Hikari invited me! What was I supposed to do, turn her down? Ladies come at me all the time."

"Oh yeah? Then how come you used her first name? You've _never_ used it before! And look here, the camera never lies!"

"Hey-! Mind your own business!" Toji barked.

"Hi, Toji," Hikari spoke sweetly as she approached the two. "Thank you for inviting me for lunch yesterday. I actually happened to make extra this morning… would… you like to join me again?"

"I knew it!" Kensuke wailed. "You two… all of you! I'm being left behind!"

"I'm glad you like it," Shinji responded, the background chatter ignored by either of them. "I couldn't help but notice that you don't eat lunch… and that you didn't have much at your home."

"I do not require much."

"But you have to eat something," he commented. "If you need any help… I-I'm here."

Rei hesitated, unsure of how to respond.

"… okay," she awkwardly responded. A pause in her words stopped her from continuing until the seldom-used words found themselves pulsing at her lips.

"… thank you."

* * *

 **A/N:**

Firstly I'd like to apologize for the wait. Secondly I'd like to say that Chapter 5 is actually 95% complete and will be posted within the next week. Thirdly, I'd like to say that this is not a Shinji x Rei fic, so if you're expecting that because of this chapter, then well tough toasties.

The reason this took so long was because I had other obligations (school, work, personal, etc.), so I sincerely apologize for contributing for the inactivity of this fandom. As mentioned before, Chapter 5 is very much close to completion and will be released very soon. I was pretty excited to finally get to write that chapter, so the ideas came pouring out.

I promise you, I intend to make changes to this storyline that differentiate it from the tv show, it's just that I have to follow the guidelines written by the show to make it feel more like an AU that follows the basic premise with one particular situation changed.

Anyway, if you're reading this, thanks for the read and I hoped you enjoyed it. Maybe you didn't, but just don't try to hurt my feelings over it. Because that would suck.


	5. Chapter 5: Her Life for Mine

**You Can (Not) Run Away**

 **Chapter 5:**

* * *

Shinji hunched over the hospital bed, his eyes reddened and hair untamed. The faint, rhythmic beeping of the heartrate monitor serving as the background orchestra to his misery.

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" he faintly breathed.

Rei lay unconscious before him on the bed, her body returned to bandages eerily similar to the first time Shinji arrived at the city. An oxygen mask covered her shallow breathing, fresh blood soaked the dressings that wrapped around her plugsuit, and a medley of wires and tubes lay strewn across her chest.

* * *

"Are you ready, Rei?"

Although she sat in the contoured seat, she felt little comfort in returning to Eva. The last time she was in an entry plug, Unit 00 had un expected meltdown, hospitalizing her for weeks. While the physical pain was enough strain, the mental subjugations could far exceed any.

Regardless, it was what he wanted. It was why she existed. It was her only goal in life- the goal he had predestined her for. She sat in the chamber, perfectly still, ready for orders.

"Yes," she quietly responded to the stern doctor. A surrogate parent, if anything, though anything but a parent should be.

Her mind drifted back to minutes ago when _he_ came along to check on her. He spoke as he usually did, giving her the necessary attention she desired from him. His words felt hollow- more so than usual. His concern for her almost always came out of a threat to her life, such as when Unit 00 went berserk during the previous activation test some weeks ago.

Rei thought back to the item sitting in the changing room right at that moment, the only other item that entered her locker other than her school uniform. She had been meaning to return it to him, but the chance never arose with their conflicting schedule. She took to the liberty of washing it, using the scarce resources at her disposal. It was almost meant to be a surprise.

She thought back to the Commander, remembering the look he gave her as he pried open the entry plug with his bare hands. His look- a look of genuine warmth- was the closest thing she had to someone truly caring up to that point in her admittedly short existence. His grizzled demeanor melted into a soft look of sympathy- his dignified attitude morphing into brief vulnerability- being reassured that she was alright. But was that because she was in danger? In danger of death? Of not existing to further his intrigues? It couldn't be, there were more- more of her. She was replaceable. She would not forget that. She _could_ not forget that.

"Rei," his dark voice interrupted over the comms system, "can you hear me?"

"Yes," she responded again.

"We will now begin Unit 00's reactivation test," he sternly continued. "Initiate primary connection."

Following his voice, the droning and chatter of other technicians began the scheduled operation procedures, the ones that she had been accustomed to ever since piloting Eva. Essentially ever since she started existing as her own identity too. She could feel Ikari's presence; _Shinji_ Ikari's presence, knowing that he was also overseeing the reactivation test. His kindness, his fondness, his simple act of generosity was something that his father lacked, or something that he perhaps lost years ago.

Rei caught a glimpse of the Commander's glasses, something he let her keep since they were rendered useless to him. They were discarded; tossed aside. She hung them snugly inside the entry plug, almost reassured that he would be there as well.

She nervously glanced back at the data panel that illuminated the left side of the plug's visual interface. Everything proceeded as it should have, unlike the last time. She wavered slightly, following protocol as she usually would during these tests.

"Borderline clear," Maya Ibuki stated. "Unit 00 has been activated."

"Roger," her voice drifted. "Beginning interlock test."

The sounds around her uncomfortably hesitated until the Commander's unexpected voice came back over the speakers. "Rei, reactivation has been successfully completed. Return now."

A sudden change in plans was not anticipated, although it mattered little to Rei. She sat back in the chair as the LCL deoxygenated, moderately relieved that the test was cut short. She took in a deep breath and exhaled, little bubbles trickling from her mouth and fading away into the dying light of the lonely chambers.

By the time she emerged from the plug, the entire division had already begun work on preparing Unit 01 for combat for the 5th Angel, Rei presumed. She traced along the catwalk around Unit 01's cage with no real direction until she happened upon Shinji wheeling across the metal floor in his chair, already dressed in his plugsuit.

He glanced at her, giving her slightest cordial nod and brief smile as other things seemed to be occupying his head. Her eyes followed his form as he quickly continued down the catwalk and fastened himself into Unit 01. Mere seconds later, the same startup chatter echoed across the Eva's cage.

"Releasing primary lock bolts. Removing secondary restraints."

Rei stared at the mechanical behemoth, its own yellowish stare far more menacing than that of her own Eva's single eye. She thought about its passenger, subconsciously tightening her grasp on the glasses in her palm.

"Unit 01, ready for launch!"

"Launch Eva!" Misato's voice roared over the speakers.

In an instant, the lumbering purple giant disappeared, shooting toward the surface at unfathomable speeds as it prepared the ground assault.

Shinji gripped the control yokes as the incredible force pushed down on his surrogate body. He could feel his legs again, a sensation he wished would never disappear again. He took short breaths as he prepared for the confrontation, remembering back to the last attack.

Unit 01 emerged from the launch chute hidden in the ground, springing to life as the tertiary couplers detached, its head nodding upwards as if springing to life.

"LOOK OUT, DUCK!" Misato screamed at the top of her lungs.

A flash of light hurdled in his direction as he turned in that direction. He ducked and rolled just in time in an eager display of the use of his legs, something that barely saved him from receiving a direct blow. The beam continued into a nearby hillside, demolishing any signs of life in that direction with a violent exhibition of deadly force. He gasped for air, taken back by the surprise attack that nearly wiped him out.

A nearby building opened up right as scheduled, unveiling a slightly upgraded rifle over that previous incarnations he had use. This model was slightly more advanced, implementing a precise beam rather than pellets. It was experimental at most, but considering previous attempts at providing sufficient weaponry, it was better than what he had before.

The Angel was unaware of his presence so far, not realizing that he had ducked behind a nearby building for cover. He peaked over, catching a sight of the giant. It was a reflective blue color shaped as an octahedron, floating across the Japanese cityscape. Unlike the previous Angels, it possessed no eyes, mouth, nor anything that even closely shared resemblance. The others, at least, looked like some sort of massive, deformed animal or had some sort of characteristic that it shared with normal creatures. This one was… unconventional.

Shinji swung out from behind the building and drew his gun. The beam weapon fired its laser, emitting a continuous beam of energy jettisoning toward the Angel. The blast reflected off the surface, reacting like a laser to a mirror and flying out of the atmosphere. In response, the floating terror sent another explosion his way, instantly cutting through and demolishing the buildings in its way.

Shinji barely missed it again, rolling away from the blast in the nick of time. He panted, beads of sweat forming at his forehead and quickly becoming unnoticeable in the sea of LCL. Unit 01 crouched behind a building, out of sight from the Angel, its gargantuan feet unknowingly crushing the cement below.

"Shinji!" Misato yelled. "Get back, that blast's too strong for you to take on one-on-one!"

"I can… I can get it," Shinji panted between breathes. "I can fight."

"This is an _order_ , Shinji! You are _not_ to disobey me again! That thing's too tough and we can't send out backup! I'm opening up the entry hatch at Sector 24!"

Shinji's grip tightened on the Evangelion-sized rifle, the gun still pulsating heat from the energy it recently discharged. He peaked around the edifice he hid behind, catching a glimpse of the Angel as a biosynthetic drill-like apparatus formed at its underside, impaling itself through the concrete and asphalt with ease. He exhaled, remembering his promise to Misato.

"I… I understand," he choked.

"You're going to have to move fast, use evasive maneuvers to serpentine around the buildings for cover. Entry hatch is opening right now- GO!"

Shinji raced across the backs of the many skyscrapers that dotted the surface of Tokyo-3, moving swiftly to avoid the Angel's line of sight. He skirted across to the last building, this one with more space between each tower.

"WATCH OUT!"

A blast erupted from the Angel, hurdling toward Unit 01 right as it was making the transition to another building. Shinji forced the Eva to leap into the air as the blast cut through the sky. The beam pursued him as he jumped, barely catching his right leg as the rest of the mecha rolled behind an apartment complex. He screamed in agony as he felt the brief yet acute exposure incinerated his shin. Flames erupted inside his normally dormant leg, licking through his bones and flesh.

A violent hole appeared in the calf, cutting straight through the limb and giving it a horrifying melting look with boiling bits of metal dripping onto the surface below. He clutched his leg instinctively, as he cried out in pain. The Angel, hardly acknowledging where its prey disappeared to, casually returned to its task, lacking concern for anything else.

"SHINJI!" Misato cried, the rest of the bridge crew sharing their looks of uncertainty.

"AAGGGGGHHH!" he screamed in return, completely helpless to the situation.

"Unit 01 appears to be immobilized sir!" Hyuga announced to the Commander, sitting behind and above the crew with his hands in a tent. "We're reading low signal inputs from the right leg. The pilot won't be able to get to the escape hatch in this condition with the Angel in the way."

"Send out Unit 00," he calmly ordered. "Her mission will be to retrieve Unit 01."

"Sir," Maya started, "we haven't completely tested Unit 00, it might-"

"It will have to do," he impatiently interrupted.

"Yes sir," Misato quickly accepted. She approached the computer terminal and activated a nearby microphone button. "Rei."

"Yes," her voice softly replied from the speakers.

"Unit 01's been heavily damaged, we need you to get in Unit 00 and recover the Eva and its pilot. Protect the pilot at all costs, got it?"

"Roger. Recover the Eva and protect the Third Child."

"Unit 00 will be ready to launch in 240 seconds, Captain," Ritsuko stated.

"Half that!" Misato barked. "Getting him out of there is top priority. Hyuga, what's the status on his umbilical cable?"

"Part of it was damaged in the last blast; it's operating at 11% max power. Should we disconnect?'

"No, keep it plugged in until Rei gets out there. Keep him on low power mode until we get him back inside."

Minutes later, Unit 00 was barreling to the surface, its pilot back at the reigns. Rei's mission was clear: Recover the Eva. Protect the Third Child. Using several of the interconnect launch tunnels, NERV was able to send her out with cover behind an undamaged skyscraper just a few short miles away from where Unit 01 had fallen. From the knee below, the shin was nearly detached from the rest of leg, still attached by strings of purple metal.

She peered around the corner of the building, taking note that she had to be swift in the pickup lest she be noticed by the preoccupied Angel drilling its way through the GeoFront.

"Rei," Misato's voice chimed in her plug, "we're going to need a distraction for you to get to Shinji."

"Roger."

Rei picked up a bit of a nearby chunk of concrete laying nearby, something left in the wake of the destruction caused by the battle. It was roughly the size of a large softball, compared to the hands of an Evangelion. In the opposite direction of Unit 01, she pitched the concrete in the air, launching it at an incredible speed in the direction of a faraway mountain. As expected, the Angel didn't miss a beat, firing a powerful blast at the projectile as if it were a clay pigeon.

Rei bolted from her position, ignoring the fireworks behind her. Miles were cleared in seconds as Unit 00 tore across the abandoned streets. Without skipping a beat, she yanked Unit 01's power cable from its back and lifted her fellow Evangelion into an awkward support hold.

"Rei…?" Shinji groggily asked to a muted response.

Rei tried pulling him, but Unit 01's lame leg dragged across the concrete and unwillingly caught itself on anything below, including smaller buildings. With this speed, they would easily be hit by another blast when they exposed themselves to Angel for the final time.

"Sorry," she quickly apologized before fluidly ripping off his leg.

"Wha- AAAAAHHHH!".

Ignored his screams, she lifted him into an easier position and catapulted herself toward the open entry hatch. A beam cut across to her, although not anticipating her sudden acceleration and instead hitting the building behind her. But she wasn't fast enough for the second one. Another blast exploded from the Angel's vertex, this time compensating for Rei's velocity and smashing directly into her abdomen and knocking her down right before the hatch.

"Rei!" Shinji choked out as he tumbled just in front of her.

She bit back her scream and the fiery pain, remembering her objective. The wound was shallow for her armor, presumably to compensate for the speed and accuracy it was fired with. She picked herself up onto her knees as the Angel charged another blast- this one intended for the killing blow. Acting fast, she pushed Unit 01 down the hatch, ensuring its safety before her own. The pilot blacked out as his immobile Evangelion tumbled down the chute, the last thought of Unit 00's hands pushing him to safety ingrained in his memory.

"He's secure!" Misato shouted. "Rei, get out of there!"

The blast came at her again as she mustered the strength to follow Unit 01 and pounce into the hatch, just narrowly avoiding the beam as it continued to sweep across the landscape, instantaneously toppling the surrounding towers. Rei panted in exhaustion, a single bead of sweat rolling its way down her forehead. Her back fell into her seat, her tensed muscles relaxing as she was swept away by the LCL.

* * *

Shinji woke with a gasp, the faint glow of the setting sun warming his face, and cicadas singing their everlasting song. He was in the NERV recovery rooms- something he could never seem to escape. His blue and white plugsuit was replaced by the usual hospital gown, concealed by the thin bed sheets. He forced his eyes shut as he propped himself up onto his elbows. The last thing he remembered- searing pain coursing through his leg like a wicked flame- was gone. He pulled off the covers and checked the damaged leg to find substantial wrappings across his knee and shin.

Part of him was a bit glad that he never had to deal with pain dealt to his lower body, but the tradeoff was often never worth it.

He heard the door softly slide open, followed shortly by the sound of wheels- some sort of cart by how the noise rattled across the tile. He turned his head to see his visitor who was none other than his fellow pilot.

"Rei."

She stood before his bed, herself faintly illuminated by the dim sunlight. She was dressed back in her school uniform, a faint yet noticeable outline of bandages encased across her lower abdomen.

"I've been sent here to brief you on the Operation Yashima timetables," she stated as she pulled out a red booklet. "The operation will begin at midnight, zero-hundred hours. Prior to that, Pilots Ikari and Ayanami will arrive at the cage at seventeen-thirty. At eighteen-hundred, Unit 01 and Unit 00 will activate. At eighteen-o' five, both Units will be deployed. They will arrive at the temporary base at Mount Futago at eighteen-thirty. There, they will await further orders. Here, this is a new one."

Rei reached onto the cart, retrieving a freshly-sealed plugsuit and tossing it onto Shinji's lap. He let it lay there with no reaction.

"You saved me… thank you."

"I was following orders."

"It doesn't matter. I was useless out there. I couldn't do it. If it weren't for you… I don't know. I don't know how we're going to beat this Angel. I'll… I'll just be holding you back..."

"I believe that is untrue. Your previous records provide adequate evidence that you will prove to be capable."

"That was just luck. I can't fight this with luck."

"Then don't. Captain Katsuragi has ordered an extensive plan to defeat this Angel. You will just have to play your part. Here," she motioned. "Your dinner. We will be departing in sixty minutes."

"I don't think I can do this. I can't."

"Then you can just stay here in bed."

"Huh? What do you mean by that?"

"I will pilot Eva Unit 01. Doctor Akagi has already prepared to rewrite the personal data files."

"They…" his voice trailed.

She turned back to the door, taking no more than three steps before Shinji spoke up.

"No," he said, balling his fists and crumpling the bed sheets, "you don't need to be piloting Unit 01. You're already hurt. You've done enough. I… I'll do it. I'll pilot the Eva."

"Then Doctor Akagi and Captain Katsuragi will be waiting for us at the cages," she responded, her back still facing him.

The door slid shut, and as quickly as she appeared- she was gone.

Shinji sighed, exhaling a puff of air out through his nostrils. He glanced over at the sad plate of cafeteria food that Rei brought him. He looked to the side of the bed where his wheelchair sat and fell back onto the mattress. He wasn't that hungry anyway.

* * *

The operation, whose premise was simple at face value, implemented a wide array of skillsets most of which were unplanned, untrained, and untested. Shinji was to be the gunner, as determined by Ritsuko who oversaw his rising synch-ratio scores. He was to man the positron rifle as outfitted to become a long-range sniper. Rei was the backup, bearer of the shield that was recycled from an old space shuttle. Her duty, as she faithfully accepted, was to protect Unit 01 at all costs. There were to be no mistakes.

"You… you don't seem worried," Shinji said to Rei as they changed into their plugsuits. Separating them was a thin curtain, each of their silhouettes visible to each other if in the right light. Simple privacy was one of the limited luxuries they were granted by the temporary, makeshift outpost.

"Why should I be?" she asked.

"Because… this might be our last day alive."

"How do you know that?"

"That Angel… it's too powerful, we both nearly died-"

"You won't die," she paused. "I'll be protecting you."

* * *

"I never thought I'd see this city look so… empty," Shinji remarked, breaking the silence.

Nearly every light from every building disappeared into the silent night, the only area being illuminated on the entire island was the outpost that they were preparing for the attack, many miles away from the city and hidden between the mountains.

The two pilots sat on a metal ledge near the heads of their machines, Rei on the cold floor and Shinji on his wheelchair. The temperature was fair, although pre-Impact nights could be described as chilly by those who lived before.

Shinji turned his head to Rei. "Ayanami, just why do you pilot this thing? Why do you pilot Eva?"

"Because I'm bonded to it."

"Bonded? How do you mean?"

"I have nothing else. My bond to Eva- to life, to all things, is all I have. It's my... purpose."

"Wait, what... what do you mean by nothing else?"

Rei lifted herself off the ground, the only remaining light being the ominous shimmer of the moon itself.

"Don't you…" his voice drifted.

"It's time," she stated. "Goodbye… Shinji."

He recoiled slightly, taken back by the informal use of his first name- something that in his time spent with Rei she would never use. He stared back at her, although her eyes would not meet his. She walked down the catwalk to her designated position, disappearing into the lonely darkness.

* * *

"Listen Shinji," Misato announced, "we're entrusting you with the energy of the entire nation of Japan. We're counting on you."

"Roger!" he replied from inside his Eva.

The time had finally come: the final confrontation with the 5th Angel. There was no margin for error now. Unit 01 laid in prone sniping position, the immensely heavy positron cannon laid out before him. Chatter of the engineers rang through his speakers, and he soon felt the weapon awaken in its arms as pure energy surged through the body of the machine. Motors and fans whirred in exhilaration as a targeting monitor began to lower itself over Shinji's head. A simplified hologram of the Angel appeared on the computer, geometric objects scattering into alignment. Adjustments were already pre-calculated and automatically accounted for, and all he had to do was the manual fine-tuning when aiming- he was told.

"We're reading a high energy output coming from the target!" Maya yelled.

"No, not now!" Ritsuko shouted.

Finally, the reticule countdown ended, the Angel perfectly aligned in Shinji's sights.

"FIRE NOW!" Misato ordered.

Shinji felt the release of the heavy trigger as well as the immense recoil of the rifle as thousands of pounds of force and metal pushed itself into his shoulder. An incredible laser, comparable to the sun's intensity, shot out of the barrel, traveling at near-impossible speeds across the lake. Matching that, the Angel fired its own beam toward Unit 01, a similar spectacle of incomprehensible strength.

The beams met each other, intertwining themselves in a magnificent display of raw power as their two opposing fields rejected and repulsed each other and continued along their designated paths. The Angel's blast collided into the mountain, barely missing the Evangelion but sending abandoned military vehicles and loose power cables off the cliff and into the lake. Debris scattered everywhere, particularly toward the underground base where the NERV team operated. The wave hit like a powerful earthquake with any personnel not sitting or holding on tightly tumbling to the ground.

Shinji opened his eyes, surprised that he was still able to. The damage felt far worse than it appeared, it seemed.

 _'Did I miss?'_ he thought.

The Angel confirmed his fears, its great blue shape still floating above the city. Unknown to him, the drill had just breached the upper layer of the GeoFront, crumbling the support for an underground skyscraper and sending it falling toward the pyramidal NERV headquarters.

"Initiating recharge!" he heard over the speakers, followed by a louder hum coming from the tool he wielded.

"We've got another high energy reading from the target!"

By the time it was announced, the blast was already coming back for Unit 01, even more ferocious than the first.

"Look out, Shinji!" Misato cried out.

He recoiled, expecting to take the full force of the explosion. When he felt nothing but an uncomfortable warmth, he reopened his eyes to find the faintly visible orange paint and shape of Unit 00's back facing him.

"Rei!" he shouted.

He could feel the colossal heat from where he was, something far greater than the hottest days that post-Second Impact Japan had to offer, and it was only growing by the second. The wave of energy merely rustled the trees like grass on a windy day. He saw Unit 00 fall to its knees, pushing back the shield with all its strength. Sweat was pouring down his face and soaking his back through the plugsuit as the heat continued.

He peered back into his targeting computer, eager to take another shot.

"C'mon…" he muttered. "Hurry up…. HURRY UP!"

It wasn't even a full second after the targeting computer confirmed its aim when Shinji pulled the trigger for the second time. The beam went flying past Unit 00, piercing the night air as if it were a lance and erupting through the Angel in the same manner. Fire exploded out of the back of the Angel, followed by billowing clouds of smoke. The giant fell from its throne, its molten corpse crushing entire city districts.

"Ayanami!" Shinji shouted as he ripped off his headset. "Rei!"

The armor was still searing hot and was melted thoroughly, although damage to the interior was for from known. In desperation, he threw the Evangelion into the lake, causing large clouds of steam to rise from its body as well as great splashes of water to coat the land. Shinji laid Unit 00 onto the ground and pried open the hatch located on its back. More wisps of steam rose as it emerged, warm geysers of LCL bursting out of the drainage holes. Her entry plug was blistering, and he could almost feel his own armored hands melting with the tube. He delicately rested the plug on the ground as he rested Unit 01 on its side, its hand still grasped onto the cockpit as if it were an added layer of protection.

He activated his own ejection sequence, fumbling around for the emergency wheelchair designed personally designed for him and cleverly tucked away into the side of his chair. Eventually, his plug's hatch slid open, revealing the starry night sky. This next part was tricky- as he never had been able to properly test the emergency procedures before.

Shinji grabbed the folded wheelchair and thrusted it out of the plug, followed by a satisfying thud when it hit the muddied ground. He opened a small hatch located near the plug's exit and pulled out a rope ladder that was long enough in case he had to exit while the Evangelion was standing. After securing it on a pair of latches, he flung it out of the door in the direction he sent the wheelchair.

He grunted as he pulled his dead weight out of the seat and climbed out of the plug, firmly clutching onto the rungs of the ladder as he clumsily descended. He eventually reached the surface, mere feet away from the wheelchair. He crawled on his stomach until he reached it, a combination of muck, twigs, and small pieces of concrete debris rubbing onto his plug suit. He slid himself onto the device, panting rapidly.

Shinji mustered his strength to push the wheelchair around to the Eva's hand, finding it especially difficult in the mud. His arms ached, as did his entire body as he struggled against nature. It was only a few meters before the plug did his flimsy wheelchair toss him forward after catching itself on uneven footing, forcing him face-first into the ground.

He groaned. By now his entire body had been generously coated by mud, his willpower sapped from him. Still, he continued, crawling his way to Rei. The plug was locked shut, secured by a twisting mechanism requiring two free hands. He thrust himself up as best as he could, barely reaching the handles.

They were piping hot, instantly scalding his hands through his gloves as they made contact with the bare metal. He yelped in pain and instinctively let go, dropping the rest of his upper body onto more of the heated metal plug. He screamed as his exposed skin made contact, the only protection he had being the plugsuit and the layer of dirt and grime that built up on his face as he was crawling.

"Rei…" he croaked.

His fist met with the metal shell repeatedly as he pounded against the surface, each time a hollow resonation would follow. He couldn't open it in his condition. If he were standing, then it might have been possible.

"Rei… dammit…" he sobbed, "dammit…"

Tears ran like shallow rivers down his cheeks, mixing in the sludge that bathed his skin. Exhaustion ate at him, biting at every muscle he had remaining. He fell to the ground into a miserable lump, his only company being the lonely moon drifting above him.

The Angel had been defeated, but ultimately, he was the one who felt the loss.

* * *

 **A/N:**

See? I wasn't kidding. Released just a week later. I actually wrote this immediately after Chapter 4, because I felt bad about the wait and had some extra downtime. I feel like I missed some grammar and spelling issues in this one, so please pardon those mistakes.

Damn though, poor Shinji. Kinda sucks for him right now.

I won't be able to pop out Chapter 6 as quickly as this one, partially due to life/time constraints and how I want to approach the new content I'll be adding shortly. I swear, it's getting done, this next chapter's already at ~4,700 words and around ~70% complete, so it's getting there, trust me.

Also, I'd like to thank you beautiful people for the 50 follows on this story. Really makes me feel good that some of you seem to enjoy my fic. Compared to others, it's not that much, but seriously- thanks.


	6. Chapter 6: My Dark Blue Moon

**You Can (Not) Run Away**

 **Chapter 6:**

* * *

"Oh man oh man! I never thought I be riding in a _Mech 55-D Transport Helicopter!"_ Kensuke squealed in excitement. "It sure pays off to be friends with a famous pilot like you, Shinji!"

"Glad you're enjoying it so much," Misato winked up front from the passenger's seat. "I figured you guys were getting a bit cramped up in the mountains."

"Hey, get that thing out of my face!" Toji shouted, shoving Kensuke and his obnoxious and intruding camera aside. He adjusted his cap, something that suspiciously appeared not long after his 'secret' lunch date getaway.

"So, where are we going?" Shinji pondered aloud. He knew that they were going to pick up the pilot, but he figured that it would be at an airport or something, not across the middle of the ocean.

"Oh, nothing too fancy. We're just takin' a cruise on that little boat down there," Misato pointed.

Several thousand feet below, cutting across the vast Pacific, lay an entire fleet of battleships, cruisers, and destroyers all ranging from different countries of the world. In the center of the fleet, a magnificent aircraft carrier stood out from the rest, its imposing size making it a fearsome sight to behold.

"OH MY GOD!" Kensuke gleefully exclaimed. "One, two, three- that's the entire United Nation's Pacific Fleet!"

" _That's_ your 'cute little boat'?" Toji questioned indignantly.

"That's not _any_ 'cute little boat', _that's_ the pride of the UN, the supercarrier _Over the Rainbow!"_ Kensuke announced. "It's a vintage model, built just before the Second Impact! Can you believe it?!"

"It's enormous…" Shinji commented. "I haven't seen anything like it…"

"It's nothing compared to an Eva," Misato joked. "Honestly, I'm just surprised that crusty old thing still floats."

Meanwhile, a shadowy figure watched as the helicopter descended toward the landing pad, long red hair catching the wind of the chopper's spinning blades.

"Cool, cool, cool, cool! This is the best day ever! Just look at the antennas, the dishes, the… everything!" Kensuke absorbed the sights of the carrier, quickly swiping his camera around the landscape of the ship as it recorded every little detail it could possibly fit.

The ocean's breeze was strong today, effortlessly blowing around anything that was not secured properly- including Toji's cap.

"H-hey!" he shouted, chasing fruitlessly after his fleeting garment. "That's my special hat! Come back!"

Misato and Shinji followed shortly after, the latter being pushed by the former to help against the current. Both, by contrast, seemed fairly disinterested by the vessel and the temperamental weather conditions.

Toji clumsily chased after his hat until it came to a halt- stopped by a slender leg adorned with a bright red shoe… stomping on his sentimental headwear.

"Whew- hey!" he shouted.

"Well, _hullo_ , Misato," came a young, female voice from the owner of the legs. "How have you been?"

Misato came to a halt, forcing Shinji to one as well.

"Just fine, thanks. Goodness, and you've grown some since the last time I saw you."

"Uh-huh, and not only that, but my figure's filled out as well," the girl responded with a boastful tone, her foot still planted firmly on Toji's hat, perhaps in an attempt to firmly ground herself as an authoritative figure.

"Everyone, let me introduce you," Misato announced. "This is the designated pilot of Eva Unit 02 and the Second Child: Asuka Langley Soryu."

And with that introduction, the identity was revealed like a curtain on opening night. She was intoxicating; long, red hair flowing down past the shoulders was held back by two, cat-like neural connectors that glistening in the sunlight as if they were freshly polished for the occasion. Her vibrant blue eyes were a stark contrast to Shinji's dull ones and as energetic and dynamic like a sapphire flame. Her face was marked with confidence and beauty, a combination given by what appeared to be a mixed heritage. A slender body came to match, decorated with a spirited yellow sundress that rustled like her hair.

In fact, it moved a bit too much like her hair, catching the breeze and forcing the newcomers to become an unwanted audience to her undergarments.

A girlish shout ensued, followed by a barrage of strikes coming from a pale hand- one for each of the three boys that witnessed. Toji was the first to get hit, followed by a displeased Kensuke, whose camera operating was forced to come to a halt.

Asuka raised her palm in the air again, ready for the third strike until she released where her hand would land- right on the impaired boy's cheek. He recoiled instinctively, ready to bear the smacking. She wavered slightly until she withdrew, giving an snooty pout of irritation.

"Hmph, boys are such pigs."

"Hey! What the hell was that for?!" Toji angrily shouted.

"That's the viewing fee," she haughtily replied. "I'd say that's quite the bargain."

"Psht! It's overpriced!" Toji shouted, ready to give her a piece of his mind. He grabbed the elastic of his sweatpants before thinking about how a particular person would react to such a crude means of insult. He settled instead for an audible mumble and glare to lend to the Second Child.

"So," she continued, brushing past Toji," I assume _he's_ the _famous_ Third Child?" she asked, pointing her thumb back at the tracksuit-wearing teenager.

"No, actually," Misato pointed out.

"Him, then?" Asuka questioned. "That dork over there in the glasses?"

"Hey!"

"No, Asuka," Misato shook her head and pushed Shinji slightly forward. "This is him: a mister _Shinji Ikari_ at your service."

" _What?"_ she exclaimed. " _Him?_ But- but he's a… a cripple!"

Shinji winced, the word stung more than it should have considering it came from someone who was supposed to be a fellow pilot.

"Asuka!" Misato snapped back.

"Oh yeah? You're not exactly what we expected either!" Toji retorted in place for Shinji.

"And what _were_ you expecting, pervert? Besides, there was nothing mentioned about the Third Child being stuck in a wheelchair in the reports!"

"That's because we try to keep his public status private," Misato interrupted. "Now cut the arguing, I need to have a word with the captain."

"Fine, let's go then," Asuka agreed in a hasty retreat to an uptight demeanor, significant in the notion that she was compensating for maturity.

"Man, she's really pissing me off…" Toji huffed. "You're not going to have her walk all over you, are you Shinji?"

"Don't worry about it," Shinji sighed defeatedly. "I'm used to it."

* * *

" **No** , I am _not_ approving these absolutely ridiculous requests!" the man refused. "I will not allow any request to activate that children's plaything!"

"Think of it as preparing for an emergency, Admiral," Misato insisted. "The Eva is quite valuable, sir."

"And just when did the entire Pacific Fleet turn into a cargo service? Using our navy to guard that toy, what an absurd notion!"

"The entire fleet isn't enough, especially when compared to the importance of Eva."

"We will not sign these documents, not yet at least. The Third Branch in Germany entrusted us with the transport of Unit 02 as _we_ shall oversee its progress. The ocean is under _our_ jurisdiction, and you will follow _our_ orders here."

"Fine, but I should remind you that in an emergency, _military_ jurisdiction is overridden to NERV's authority."

"As confident as ever, I see," came a suave, dignified voice.

"Kaji!" Asuka squealed, reverting her demeanor from fierce to friendly in an instant.

Misato blushed, her face morphing from that of the esteemed captain to a bitter ex-lover.

"Thank you for your time, Admiral," she interrupted, gritting her teeth. "Please… excuse us..."

* * *

Misato and Shinji soon found themselves squeezed into a tiny elevator compartment with barely enough room to fit his wheelchair inside.

"Is that the Kaji Ritsuko was talking about?" Shinji asked.

"Pfft," Misato responded, angrily blowing a lock of hair off her face. "I can't believe he's stationed here too. Talk about careless…"

"Huh."

"So, what do you think about Asuka?" Misato asked, desperately trying to change the subject. "Sorry the greeting was a bit… well..."

"It's fine," he partially lied. "She's… not what I was expecting. She's… I guess… a bit,"

"Abrasive?" Misato finished for him.

"Yeah, kinda."

"Don't let her get to you, she can't help it. It's just one of her quirks. I've only ever known her to be that way, even when she was just a little girl."

"But why is she like that?"

"She… lost her mother at a very young age. I'm just asking you to bear with her, and with me, for the time being- at least until this war is over. Do you think you can do that for me?"

Shinji nodded in compliance, her words re-sparking the faint memories of his own mother.

"Thanks, I know it's asking a lot of you," Misato chuckled, "she's a real piece of work sometimes. You should've seen her a few years back. Believe it or not, I think she's leveled off a little bit."

"I don't think I would've wanted to see that," Shinji returned with a smile.

"Aaaah, don't say that," Misato said as she playfully rustled his hair, "It just takes some time getting to know her. And who knooows~"

Somewhere, many levels of solid, seaworthy metal away, Toji could've sworn he heard the muffled groan of anguish as Shinji was chided once more.

* * *

"So," Kaji teased as he played a one-sided game of footsie, ignoring the awkward company of the four teenagers sitting at the dining hall table, "are you seeing anyone now?"

"That's none of your business," Misato retorted, not giving him the pleasure of eye contact.

"I'm hurt," he responded sarcastically, giving her another coy rub. "So, Shinji Ikari, I hear you're living with Katsuragi."

"Uh, yeah, that's right."

"Tell me something; is she still a loud snorer?" Kaji smirked. "She still hog the bed like she used to?"

"And what the hell are you implying by _that?"_ Misato angrily snapped.

"Classic Katsuragi," Kaji chuckled. "It's been years, and she hasn't changed one bit, isn't that right?"

"I guess?" Shinji presumed. "But how did you know my name?"

"Who doesn't? You know, you're pretty famous in the defense business. The legendary Third Child, successfully piloting an Eva against not just one, nor two, but _three_ Angels now with limited training! That's quite the accomplishment, wouldn't you agree?"

"Oh, well, I was just lucky," Shinji blushed at the compliment.

" _Luck_ has nothing to do with it! You're a talented kid, Ikari. It's your destiny to be a great pilot!" Kaji continued, spotting steam rise from the local redhead in the corner of his eye.

Between the two, Asuka grew jealous, a displeased look of indignation growing each second she had to hear of this new pilot. From her perspective, it was just luck, beginner's luck if anything. This Third Child didn't go through the extensive, lifelong training that she received to pilot the Evangelion- the kind only those far above average can achieve, especially not someone confined to a wheelchair.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some business to attend to," Kaji stated, standing up from the table as Misato, Kensuke, and Toji all still sat motionless.

"I think I'll join you," Asuka declared, too irritated to continue being in the company of someone _so_ great.

"So," Kaji asked once they reached an outdoor deck, "what are your thoughts on the Third Child?"

"He's boring, and not much to look at. But can you believe NERV? Hiding the fact that he's _crippled_ \- that's something that shouldn't be held secret. The audacity…"

"It's a security thing, private disclosure and all that. I would've thought you'd know quite well about confidentiality. NERV just likes to keep things tidy, that's all."

"You mean you knew about this and didn't tell me?" she gasped.

"Does it matter? Besides, he's the one achieved a _fifty-two_ percent synchronization ratio with _no_ prior training!"

"Fifty-two?! _Mein Gott!"_ she exclaimed, not realizing she had switched back to her native tongue.

"Doesn't seem so bad then, does it? With enough training, I bet he'll be quite the competition for you…"

"It took me _years_ to get _my_ synch ratio up to that, and that _daddy's boy_ thinks he can just waltz in and show me up?" Asuka pushed herself away from the railings and heel spun back inside.

"Now now, don't do anything rash," Kaji chuckled sarcastically, pulling out a cigarette and lighter. "Ahh, kids."

* * *

"Man, everyone on this ship must be nuts or something," Toji remarked as the group waiting in the moving elevator.

"That Kaji's pretty, uh, something, isn't he?" Shinji asked, still charmed by the man's presence.

"He's nothing but a chauvinistic pig! He hasn't changed one bit," Misato grumbled.

As the doors slid open, they were pleasantly greeted by a distinct voice and figure forcing their attention.

"HEY, THIRD CHILD!"

"Oh boy," Kensuke groaned.

Standing right before the elevator doors was perhaps one of the more alarming sights to behold- an irritated, red-headed German girl who knew exactly what she wanted and how she wanted it done.

"You're coming with me," Asuka demanded.

"Um, okay?" Shinji said, puzzled by her sudden appearance.

Toji patted his buddy on his shoulder. "Godspeed, Ikari."

Asuka led him around the ship, navigating through narrow corridors and a variety of security entrances until they reached an outdoor cargo hold covered by a large, beige canopy.

"Will you hurry up?" Asuka insisted as she began gaining the lead on him.

"Hey! I'm trying!"

"Not hard enough," she groaned.

She took the initiative and grabbed the handles to his wheelchair and pushed him to match the speed she was originally striding at.

"The mighty Third Child can't even seem to pull his own weight," she rambled. "You better not be dragging me down in battle, got it?"

"Hey, I could've pushed myself without your help."

"Pfft, as if. You're too slow on that thing. Whatever, doesn't matter now that we're here."

She pulled the tarp over her head, proudly presenting Shinji a good look at what lay hidden underneath the cover.

"It's, uh, red. I didn't know they came in red."

"Oh yeah? I heard yours is purple and the Unit 00 is blue."

"They are, but I just really thought about it."

Asuka groaned at his ignorance, and pressed on.

"That's not all that's different," she boasted as she led him to the Eva's docking back. "Units 00 and 01 are just prototypes for the real thing- the fact that you, an untrained pilot, were able to synchronize with one is proof of that. _My_ Unit 02 is the first real production model, ready and tested for real-world combat!"

Shinji sat near the pool of LCL that the mighty giant lay half-submerged in. He studied the look of the Eva, something far different than that of the previous two he encountered. Most notably, other than the red and orange hues, Unit 02 had four piercing, cat-like eyes with its own unique head shape. Asuka stood atop the back of her Eva, something she did not need to do save for feel superior to him as he sat below her. By now, he formed the suspicion that it was at her request that Unit 02 would be painted red. No, actually, he was sure of it.

Abruptly, the boat shook with sudden vigor more powerfully than the frequent earthquakes in Japan.

"Whoaahh~!" Asuka yelped, her footing nearly lost.

Shinji, however, having not had his hands holding onto his wheels, was sent into the pool along with his wheelchair.

"Agh!" he yelped right before he went overboard.

His wheelchair sunk immediately as he helplessly flailed his arms desperately trying to sink- a battle he was quickly losing.

"H-help!" he gargled between breaths.

"Oh please- don't tell me the Third Child can't even swi-" she realized the fault in her statement before she finished, silently chiding herself for her own brief lack of awareness.

She jumped off the Eva and ran toward the edge of the platform. "Here, take my- hold still you idiot! I can't reach you from here!"

Shinji perilously labored against the liquid, but his strength was not enough. He sank, his dead weight lowering him to the bottom of the pool, the only indicator of him being little bubbles rising to the surface.

 _'_ _Some hotshot he is…'_

Asuka quickly and tentatively weighed her options without a second to spare, ripping off her shoes and diving into the pool. She saw him, descending at a helpless rate. Fortunately, as part of her training, she knew how to swim- quite well she might add, another thing she prided herself in. She grabbed him by the wrist and pulled, barely managing to carry the weight of herself combined with Shinji's own. They both gasped for air as they broke the surface of the LCL and headed toward the platform, with Asuka obviously leading them both.

They pulled themselves onto the metal floor, both of their clothes thoroughly soaked with the orange mess. Shinji gasped for breath as he tugged his legs onto the surface. Asuka stood up, still clearly trying to catch her breath.

"Thanks," Shinji said between his frequent gasps for air.

"Don't expect me to be there all the time, Third. I can't be the one to babysit you all the time."

Shinji ignored the comment, whether it was a quip about his impairment or not, he did not particularly care at the moment. His wheelchair, sat the bottom of the pool, unobtainable by other of them lest they find some sophisticated method to fish it out.

"What was that?" he asked.

"Undersea shockwave," she answered as she rung out her hair. "And it sounded close!"

Asuka raced toward the edge of the canopy and pulled it open, catching a glimpse of a mighty wave that struck the side of a nearby battleship, followed by the blaring of alarms across the entire fleet.

"That looks bad," Shinji commented from behind. "It looks like an Angel attack. We need to get Misato."

"We don't need Misato for this!" Asuka quipped. "This is just _wunderbar…"_

Now _that,_ certainly worried Shinji.

"Here," Asuka said after briefly running to another room. She tossed him a red plugsuit- a matching color to her Evangelion. That wasn't the worst part, the worst part was that it was a _woman's_ plugsuit.

"Well? Put it on!" she ordered. "Don't just sit there, get moving!"

"I-I can't wear this!" he complained.

"And why not? This is an emergency situation!"

"I- uh,"

"You _can_ get yourself dressed, can you?" she reeled in apprehension.

"I- uh, yes, of course I can!"

"Then good! You can't expect me to help you with that!" she said, stomping to a private staircase.

Shinji sighed, and hurried to get undressed. Here would have to do, considering it would take him too long to find somewhere private. He just really, really hoped she didn't walk in on him.

"Let's go, Asuka," she muttered to herself once she tightened her skin-tight plugsuit. She swore it was designed by perverts, considering how revealing the material was.

It was her first Angel battle, something she trained her entire life for. She had not even ever been in a real fight, only simulations or training sessions. She wasn't scared. She was _terrified_ and simultaneously exhilarated that the time had finally arrived, albeit she was going to have to be joined by another passenger. Of course, she thought it was luck that he lost his means of transportation, as this would be the perfect demonstration to show off her superior fighting prowess.

She hastily stuffed her clothes back into her matching red duffel bag and hurried back to the Eva's docking back. Caught in the anticipation for her debut battle, the possibility that Shinji was still changing slipped her mind. She whipped around the corner, prepared to announce her return to be greeted by the pilot's bare back as he tugged himself into the plugsuit. Her face reddened as she exhaled a tiny 'peep' before she quickly retracted herself. Shinji, thankfully, was scarce to notice her brief interjection.

"Sure takes a while," she quietly muttered to herself. "Guess I can't really blame him."

She peeped around, curiosity overcoming the best of her. Shinji had just removed his pants and was slipping into the plugsuit legs, struggling with the slightly different shape of the uniform. She brushed around the corner before she caught more of what she intended to see. A short minute later, she checked again, thankful that he was adjusting the final touches to the suit.

Asuka turned the corner before he could say anything. "Are you done yet?"

"Hey! I could've still been changing!" Shinji exclaimed as he noticed her prematurely enter the room.

"But you're not, are you? C'mon move it, let's get going already! Use that side hatch to get in the cockpit and _don't_ touch anything, got it?"

"Alright, alright," he sighed, as he began crawling toward the entrance. Meanwhile, another shockwave rocked the ship, this one slightly worse than the previous. Loose equipment from different levels of the ship could be heard crashing into each other.

Asuka saw this, turning her nose up and scrunching her eyebrows together. "Dammit, we don't have enough time for this," she said, grabbing him under his shoulders and dragging him across the floor by awkwardly back-peddling. "Don't get any funny ideas, got it?"

"Okay."

"You're… really… heavy, you know that, Third Child?"

"Sorry."

"Sorry? Why the hell are you saying that? It's not like it's your fault you're like that, are you?"

"No."

"Then why do you feel like you need to say that? If it's not your fault it's not your problem."

"Sorry."

Asuka growled in annoyance. "Is that all you know how to say?"

"Sor- no."

She gave up once they reached the hatch, and they both climbed in. Asuka went in first, finding herself comfortably positioned in her personalized seat. Shinji came in second, uncomfortably sat behind her chair and leaning over her shoulder as a result. He was too encapsulated by the slight nuances of the entry plug's interior that he failed to notice Asuka ordering her Evangelion to life, albeit in a different language. What caught him out of his stupor was the German word 'FEHLER' blinking throughout the chamber in bright red lettering along with a matching alarm buzz.

"Fehler… fehler…" he muttered, trying to recall the Evangelion nomenclature from his NERV handbook. "Error! It's a programming error!"

"It's thought noise," Asuka sternly corrected. "You're not supposed to be disturbing me!"

"What do you mean?"

"You're thinking in Japanese, aren't you! If you must think, do it in German!"

"But I don't know German," Shinji confessed.

"Ugh! And you're supposed to be great Third Child? I'm starting to think that those fights with the Angels really were all flukes!"

"Hey! And how many have you been up against?"

"None if I have your sorry ass slowing me down! Now just be quiet and let the real pilot show you how it's done! Switch language to Japanese!" she barked. "Evangelion Unit 02, launch!"

The machine spurred to life, its stiffened limbs loosening as the giant appeared to break free of its bindings. Its four eyes flashed a threatening green as it rose from the pool, its massive arms helping bring the mech to its feet.

This mystifying sensation of two pilots in the same Eva was differed vastly when compared to being in Unit 01, Shinji noted, like two minds in the same body. He could feel the same things Asuka did; the arms, the legs, even the cargo ship's canopy that she was certainly using just for showing off.

"Deactivate that toy at once!" the Admiral's gruff voice shouted over the speakers. "That Eva is under _my_ jurisdiction! It's under _my_ authority!"

"No one gives a damn about your authority! This is an emergency!" Misato interrupted, wrestling the microphone away. "Don't listen the moron, Asuka! Go for it!"

"Already on it!"

"Hey, I just thought of something," Shinji pondered aloud. "If we fall in the ocean… we're done for, right? I don't think we have the proper equipment."

"Then we won't do that," Asuka declared, her focus already concentrated on the impromptu mission.

"Shinji!" Misato joyfully exclaimed. "You're in there too? You're okay, right?"

"Uh, yes- hi! I'm alright, Misato!"

"Okay then, this is it! Asuka, launch!"

On those words, Evangelion Unit 02 shot into the air, fully-activated and prepared for combat. It landed gracefully onto the top of a UN destroyer with years of dedicated practice under its belt.

Shinji glanced over to the timer. "We've got only fifty-eight seconds of power left!"

"I know that," Asuka snapped. "Misato, prepare the power cable on the flight deck!"

"Roger!" Misato confirmed as she grabbed the microphone away from the Admiral.

"Alright, let's play a little hop-scotch."

"Hop-scotch…? Wait, wha- AAAHHAAAHHHH!"

With that, the striking red Evangelion launched from ship to ship, several hundred tons of metal carelessly colliding with each other at the pilot's discretion. The sight of the war machine used in such a manner was almost comical, were it not for the impending danger striking its way closer to the supercarrier with each leap the Eva took.

"Eva Unit 02, coming in for landing!" Asuka shouted.

Meanwhile, Shinji, not one for intense acrobatics, mustered the strength to hold in his lunch from earlier. Unit 02 collided into the _Over the Rainbow_ , grounded jet fighters falling helplessly into the ocean waters as it nearly collapsed the entire ship.

"Switching to external power supply!"

"How are you going to fight it?" Shinji asked. "We have no guns!"

"The progressive knife should do," she responded. "I thought the _ace_ pilot would know this already!"

She steadied the boxcutter-style blade as the typhoon approached like a missile. The Angel finally revealed itself as it leapt from the water toward the Eva, crashing down upon it like it were nothing to its immense size. Its appearance resembled that of a deep-sea creature, complete with fins, gills, and rows of teeth each the size of Unit 02's head.

The Eva struggled with the beast, pulling and twisting its fins in vein as the Angel wrestled its weight across the deck. Unit 02's knife fell, the blade effortlessly slicing through a landed jet, much to Kensuke's dismay. Asuka lost her footing on a lowered platform, forcing herself awry. Grabbing onto the Angel, she burdened it with her weight and the two sank into the clear blue depths.

"Asuka! It's impossible to fight underwater using the B-type equipment!" Misato quickly reminded the fiery redhead.

"Well, Misato, just as they say: you don't know until you try," she retorted.

"But why wouldn't we know if they've tested it before?" Shinji questioned.

"Now's not the time for being a smartass, Third," she quipped as the Angel dragged the Eva across the city ruins of the ocean floor. The cockpit violently shook, as well as the passengers inside. Asuka gripped the controls, receiving the full brunt of the turbulence. Shinji clung to the back of her seat, his unsecured lower half being throttled against the lower half of her chair.

"Can you cut that out?" Asuka challenged, her voice distorted, rumbled, and most certainly annoyed.

"No! I can't help it!" Shinji shouted in return.

Asuka grunted. "Then hold on tighter, dammit!"

"Hold on you two," Misato shouted. "The cable's about to end!"

The carrier jerked like a fishing pole as the enormous electrical wires came to an abrupt halt, nearly tipping the ship once again. Misato, Toji, and Kensuke grabbed onto the closest available handle, which happened to be the window sill they were sticking their heads out of to get a closer look at the battle.

"Hey, look!" Kensuke pointed. "It's a Yak-38 Custom!"

"Hey, Katsuragi!" a dashing call came from the plane.

Misato's demeanor instantly changed as the owner of the voice registered in her ears. "Kaji~!" she cheered like a schoolgirl.

He winked back at his old companion. "I'd love to stay, but I've got a delivery! Catch'ya later!"

Misato's mouth fell agape, an overwhelming combination of emotions flooding back to her.

"Well, let's get to it then. I'd rather not stick around for too long," Kaji said to his pilot as they began their ascent. "Take care of the rest of this, _Captain!_ "

"Okay, where's- hey, he ran away!" Kensuke remarked as soon as he replaced his camera's tape.

"Some help _he_ was," Toji added.

"There it is! It's coming back around!" Shinji pointed.

"Alright, this time I'll finish it off," Asuka growled as she shook on her useless controls. "Hey, what's wrong? It's not working!"

"It's B-type equipment, it's not going to work," he reminded her.

For once, Asuka look afraid, her challenging attitude swept over by a suddenly grim mode of panic. "Then what are you going to do?"

"What am _I_ going to do?"

And the attitude was back again. "Well _you're_ the _esteemed_ Third Child, do something useful for once!"

"Well I- look!"

The Angel approached the Eva, first baring its voracious intent through its many rows of fangs followed by its gaping maw whose end was nowhere to be seen.

"The red thing- that's the core!" Shinji shouted, quickly examining the shining red orb at the back of the Angel's throat.

"Eeeeeeh!" Asuka shrieked right before the Angel clamped down Unit 02's abdomen, its teeth impaling through the many layers of crimson armor.

"Urk!" Shinji grunted. "We have to destroy that core! It's the only way to kill this thing!"

He lunged forward and over Asuka to grab the controls in a desperate attempt to struggle the Evangelion free. His first instinct was to try prying the Eva from the Angel's bite, but to no avail. There was hardly any noticeable reaction that came from the machine.

Asuka blinked her eyes open once she registered the pain as not nearly as bad she originally anticipated. Although the teeth sunk cleanly through her armor, half the pain was burdened upon Shinji as well, making the injury feeling more like a sudden punch to the gut.

The view was entirely surrounded by the rose-colored gums of the beast, save for the endless black tunnel that encompassed its throat. She felt Shinji's weight atop her, without failing to notice his well-developed arm and shoulder muscles from years of wheelchair use which was only emphasized by the skin-tight plugsuit.

"Hey, get off my lap, you pervert!" she struggled once she regained her senses.

"But we've got to do something!" he retorted. "At least I'm trying something!"

"You. Did. Not. Have. Permission. To. Pilot. My. Eva!" she shouted between beating Shinji's back like a set of bongos.

"Oh will you shut up already?! You told me to do something useful and that's what I'm doing!"

Asuka glared at him in both a combination of confusion and disgust. The façade of a meek boy she just recently encountered on the deck of the iron-clad ship had washed away in the time of desperation and alertness, replaced by an entirely new demeanor of confidence and determination.

"The core… it's so close…" he continued. "If only we could get closer then we can destroy it…"

"So? Then what are you waiting for?"

"Is there another progressive knife in the second pylon?"

"No, that one has a needle launcher, but there's no way we're going to be able to hit it from this angle. This stupid thing's also jerking around too much to even try it. We'd have to stabilize ourselves before this overgrown seafood tears us apart, it's like we're just bait on a stupid fishing trip!"

"Wait, fishing!" Shinji exclaimed. "Misato! Are you listening? I need you to reel in the umbilical cable, I have an idea!"

"Roger!" Misato responded, turning back to shout orders. "Reverse the cable! Bring them back in! Shiniji, what's the plan?"

"This Angel has teeth and gills, like a shark, doesn't it? I read this in a book once, that sharks need to keep moving in order to move water through their mouth and out through their gills."

"Get to the point, nerd!" Asuka squirmed.

"Point is, if we can open the Angel's mouth and unhook ourselves from its teeth, we'll be pushed back deeper into its mouth, in firing range of its core!"

"So what, your whole plan is to get _swallowed_ by this thing?!" Asuka questioned.

"More or less? By retracting the cable, I think we'll be able to push ourselves back into its throat if we time this just right."

"This might work…" Misato said.

The cable suddenly jerked as the enormous motors back on the oversized cable reel worked at full force against the Angel's constant swimming, eventually picking up speeds as it dragged both the Angel as well as its passengers through the dark blue depths.

"Alright, we need to open the mouth!"

"Right!" Asuka said, forgoing the idea of questioning when he became the boss of her.

She grabbed onto the yokes with both hands and pulled back against the resistive controls with all her strength. Shinji followed very shortly after, unintentionally wrapping his own hands around hers to grip the controls.

"Open, open, open, open, open…" they both muttered, not realizing that they were soon muttering in sync with each other.

Unit 02 reacted, the combined mental power conducted by two pilots working in harmony with each other to unlock a whole new strength to be wielded. The four distinct green eyepieces glowed white as if a beast awoke from dormancy and the entire machination pried apart the powerful jaws of the Angel, releasing the Eva from its sharpened grasp.

"Now, Misato!" Shinji and Asuka shouted simultaneously.

"Stop the cable!" she ordered to the mechanics.

As the engines came to a halt, the predator and its prey slowed as a result. The Angel surged ahead regardless with the accompanying Evangelion to allow itself to rush inside its mouth by following the current. Instinctively, in order to encapsulate its meal, the Angel clamped its jaws shut once more, this time with nothing between the massive fangs.

"There!" Shinji shouted while focusing on the red gem in a sea of darkness.

Together, as the Eva quickly floated down the Angel's throat, they grabbed onto the core with both arms, wrapping their entire conjoined body in a secure position. Asuka was swift in her reaction, immediately launched the large, black needles at the glass-like organ; half of which barely managing to penetrate the target.

"It wasn't enough!" Shinji exclaimed.

"Then let's make it enough!" Asuka retorted.

Shinji quickly nodded in a silent agreement, and in an effortless motion, the Evangelion reached out to a nearby floating needle and grabbed it like a knife, sinking the repurposed weapon deeper into the core to expose a shining bright light from an ever-growing crack.

The Angel lurched to a sudden stop, the jaws and lips clamping down even harder than before. The entire creature seemed to be folding in on itself, becoming an enormous vice on its unwanted passenger with hundreds of pounds of pressure almost as if…

"Uh oh," Shinji spoke, his confident attitude drained.

"Huh?! What do you mean uh oh?" Asuka questioned in alarm.

"Hold on to something!" he yelped, shutting his eyes in anticipation.

"What do you mean-"

An incredibly intense surge of energy cut off her sentence as the Angel self-destructed, with Unit 02 at the heart of the explosion. Miles away aboard the _Over the Rainbow_ , the entire crew and its guests could see the enormous wave of ocean water erupt in the distance, the resulting effect being waves powerful enough to uncomfortably rock the supercarrier. Moments later, a red lump of partially melted red and white conveniently crashed onto its deck and toppled over, the reserve power being drained from its system. Its eyes flickered off as its massive head rested upon the smashed remains of a helicopter.

"Shinji, Asuka, are you two okay?" Misato's voice entered the plug.

"Yeah," both responded while rubbing their heads and other bruised parts, "we're fine."

Misato exhaled in relief. The Fourth Angel had been defeated.

"Hang tight, we're getting a crew to help you out. Nice teamwork, you two. I'll see you shortly."

"Not bad, Third," Asuka grunted. "Maybe you'll be useful for something after all."

"Thanks, I guess."

"Don't let that imply that you're a better pilot than me. I've trained for Angels for years- I probably could've taken it myself."

Shinji rolled his eyes at her obvious gloating. "Yeah, whatever…"

"What kind of tone is that? If it weren't for me, you'd still be back on the cargo ship still drowning in the LCL pool- consider us even."

"Fine," he sighed in defeat, followed by several minutes of awkward silence.

A bout of silence followed shortly until Asuka realized that it was possibly going to take the rescue crew longer than she originally expected to arrive. She tried stretching out her arms but accidently bumped into Shinji's limp leg that rested beside her. Although he had no feeling in his lower half, he could still feel the slight tremor that was sent up his body.

"Sorry," he said, using his arms to push his leg further to the side.

"Don't apologize like it's your fault, you can't move them or do anything about it."

"Okay," he replied flatly.

"How'd that happen anyway?"

"An accident, a few years back. I was hit by a car."

"I bet that was fun," she quipped sarcastically.

"So will you staying at NERV Headquarters?" he said, changing the subject.

"Just a hotel for now until they get my living arrangements settled. I hope they don't take too long and find me somewhere nice. Hotels are just too small, honestly."

"I wouldn't know."

"That 'crew' is certainly taking its time…" Asuka impatiently grumbled to herself. "Can't we just eject the plug and climb out ourselves?"

"Well, one of us can."

"Oh," she said, completely forgetting about his condition, "right."

"Sorry, they're probably taking so long because of me."

Asuka sighed in annoyance. "I guess it's not that big of a deal. I just wanted to hurry up so I can finally explore the city."

"You've never been to Tokyo?"

"Japan," she corrected.

"Really? I mean, your Japanese is pretty good and your name is Japanese as well. I guess I kinda just assumed."

"My father is German, my mother was half-Japanese, half-German. They wanted me to still be in touch with my Japanese heritage, so obviously they gave me a Japanese name."

"Oh, that makes sense."

"Well, while we're at it, how about you?"

"Nothing special, my father is Japanese and my mother was as well."

Asuka blinked, although Shinji was unable to see it in the dim lighting.

"Was?"

"…yeah. She passed away when I was little."

"Oh. So you just live with your father?"

"No, he's… busy. I've lived with my teacher since my mother died. It wasn't until a few months ago that I've been living with Misato."

"You live with Katsuragi?" she snorted. "Do you at least live somewhere nice? Being the Commander's son and all…"

"Is nothing special," he finished. "It wasn't really my choice either."

Before any other word could be spoken, the entry plug was released from the back locks of the Eva and the hatch was opened by the rescue crew who promptly helped both of the pilots into towels to dry off the remaining bits of LCL that clung onto them. Misato, Toji, and Kensuke were nearby as well, with the two boys quick to laugh at the obvious breast indentations of the borrowed plugsuit that Shinji still wore.

As Asuka was led inside her cabin to change into her normal attire, she was still unable to decipher what Shinji meant by his final ambiguous statement.

* * *

"My, my, my," Ritsuko teased as she looked at the many scars and holes added to the supercarrier. "Looks like it took quite a decent amount of damage; the UN won't be too pleased. Although, relatively speaking, the overall causalities are low. They'll be glad to still even have a navy remaining after this."

"You can thank Shinji for that," Misato said, leaning her head back on the car's backseat headrest. "We were also able to capture some valuable data."

Ritsuko peered into the charts, her eyes widening in surprise. "Misato, this certainly _is_ valuable data," she stated. "The synchronization rate spiked at one particular moment- when both pilots achieved a perfect mental alignment."

"It was only for seven seconds; probably due to the danger."

"Hey! Wait!" interjected an excited young voice. Asuka ran up to the two women, forcing the driver to bring the car to a halt. "Where's Kaji?"

"That jerk ditched us; he's probably already back at headquarters," Misato snapped.

"He didn't even see me in action…?" Asuka said, rather disappointed.

"Just like him to leave like that," she grunted. "Figures."

"Well that was _certainly_ an exciting trip! A real shame that I wasn't able to see the finale. Although, you seemed to insist otherwise…" Kaji shifted closer to the commander's desk. "Could it have been because of this, I wonder?"

Gendo Ikari smirked, as he opened the biomedical transport container, releasing a chilled breeze.

"Quite amazing," Kaji commented. "It's alive and frozen, having restored itself this far. It's the keystone to the Human Instrumentality Project, isn't it?"

"Correct. Adam, the first human being. Another step closer to achieving the next step of evolution."

* * *

"I'm telling you, she may have looked pretty-" Toji said, quickly glancing over his shoulder, "uh, _decent_ , but she was a real b-i-c-h, if you get what I mean."

"I'm pretty sure there's a 't' in there," Shinji corrected.

"Aw whatever man, b-i-c-t-h, doesn't matter."

"Yeah, at least we won't have to see her again," Kensuke added.

"Well, not us, but Mr. Bigshot Pilot here still has to go to work and see her. I don't envy you."

It was almost as if it were fate that the classroom door would slide open and a familiar, slender redhead with two polished neural connectors would walk inside at that moment, adorned with the standard school uniform causing Toji to nearly fall out of his seat. She signed her name in perfect cursive on the chalkboard, taking as much space as to announce herself to the awe-struck class.

"I'm Asuka Langley Soryu. Charmed, huh?"

* * *

 **A/N:**

So, you know how I said that it was 70% complete? Yeah, sorry, I didn't intend on taking almost 3 months to complete that last 30%. Life constraints really got in the way, so I had little time to finish the rest of the chapter. On the bright side, I kinda like how it turned out. As always, thanks for reading, favoriting, following, etc.

Anyway, Asuka's finally here! Hooray! I've been pretty eager to introduce her because she's the biggest motivation for a tonal shift in the story, allowing for my original concepts to really come into fruition and allow for the story to pleasantly deviate into something other than what I refer to as "stock NGE".


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